NATO isn't what people think it is. On paper it's an alliance. In actuallity it's an arms industry cartel that holds its customers at gunpoint. When we invite a new country into NATO they now have to standardize their military to be compatible with the rest of NATO. That means being a hell of a lot of weapons and equipment from the US (and lesser degree but still a lot France, UK, Germany). When we tell NATO countries, "You're not spending enough on defense," it means, "You need to buy more weapons." Don't forget the big toys (planes, armored vehicles, etc) aren't one time buys. They need perpetual maintenance contracts. You don't think, for example, BAE is going to give some Latvian company the ability to maintain the equipment, do you? That's why they whip the alleged Russia monster so hard. If there is no immediate threat to Europe no one sees the point. But couldn't some of these countries decide, "Hey, this is stupid. Why should I be a part of this?" and just quit? Because once you're in, you can never get out. "Oh, you don't want to be a part of NATO anymore? You know all your big equipment that we maintain? That includes the kill switch. Now you don't have a military at all." Should it end from a humanity perspective? Absolutely. Does the US want out of NATO? LOL. We're the head of the cartel. Anytime someone like Trump floats leaving they really mean, "Spend more money or you lose our nuclear umbrella and the ability to maintain the equipment we already made you buy."