Politics
77 Years Ago Today, NATO Was Created to Defend the West—But Is It?
WATCH: 77 Years Ago Today, NATO Was Created to Defend the West—But Is It?
77 years ago, on April 4, 1949, the NATO treaty was signed. The alliance, known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created to deter Soviet expansion and ensure collective security among Western nations.
For decades, it succeeded in that mission. However, today’s geopolitical landscape raises a more complicated question: not whether the United States should leave NATO, but whether the alliance, in its current form, still serves American interests fairly.
Recent tensions surrounding Iran have exposed a persistent imbalance. While the United States continues to provide the backbone of NATO’s military power, many European allies remain reluctant to fully support American-led operations that fall outside a narrow interpretation of Article 5.
That hesitation is not entirely surprising. NATO’s collective defense clause applies when a member is attacked, not necessarily when the United States engages in offensive or preemptive actions.
Still, the broader issue is reciprocity. The United States maintains extensive military infrastructure across Europe, provides advanced defense capabilities, and has historically underwritten the alliance’s security umbrella. In return, Washington expects more consistent strategic alignment.
As previously reported by The Gateway Pundit, President Donald Trump is reportedly considering withdrawing from NATO, reflecting growing frustration within parts of the American political establishment.
However, leaving the alliance is neither simple nor likely. Legislation passed in 2024 requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate to approve any withdrawal, making unilateral action effectively impossible.
This legal reality underscores an important point: the debate is not truly about exit, but about leverage and reform.
It is also important to acknowledge that NATO has not always been a one-sided arrangement. The alliance invoked Article 5 for the first and only time after the September 11 attacks, leading European allies to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
Thousands of allied troops were deployed, and many lost their lives alongside American forces. That history matters. It demonstrates that NATO can function as intended when the threat is clearly defined within its framework.
At the same time, structural imbalances have persisted. For years, many NATO members failed to meet the agreed-upon benchmark of spending 2% of GDP on defense. While recent pressure—particularly during the Trump administration—has pushed more countries toward that target, disparities remain.
The United States continues to account for a disproportionate share of total NATO defense spending, raising legitimate concerns about burden-sharing.
Reform, therefore, should focus on three key areas. First, enforceable defense spending commitments must become the norm rather than the exception. While this has largely been the case under Trump, it remains unclear how NATO allies will respond under future administrations.
NATO should also clarify expectations for allied support in operations that, while not strictly defensive, still serve broader Western interests.
Finally, the alliance must adapt to modern threats, including cyber warfare, economic coercion, and strategic competition with powers such as China, rather than remaining overly focused on its Cold War structure.
Leaving NATO would create a vacuum that adversaries such as Russia and China would quickly exploit. The alliance provides the United States with forward operating bases, intelligence coordination, and strategic depth that cannot be easily replicated.
Of course, European nations would likely bear the greatest immediate consequences if the United States were to leave NATO. However, that does not mean withdrawal would be the right decision.
Trump is known for following through on his positions, but that does not preclude negotiation. The same principle applies to NATO: the goal should not be abandonment, but a recalibration of the alliance to better reflect mutual responsibility and shared interests.
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The post 77 Years Ago Today, NATO Was Created to Defend the West—But Is It? appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Politics
CNN Airs Premature Death Tribute for Actor Michael J. Fox — Who Is Very Much Alive and Fires Back with Humor
Michael J Fox /Image: Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license./Author www.davincifilmfestival.com
A very much alive Michael J Fox, famous for his movie role in Back to the Future and on TV as the Reagan-loving briefcase-toting Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties, mocked CNN for sharing a tribute video implying the actor had passed away.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, but he has maintained his acting career, with roles as recently as AppleTV+’s Shrinking in 2026.
The network released a video package titled “Remembering the life of actor Michael J. Fox,” which prompted him to reassure worried fans.
Fox wrote on his Threads account, “How do you react when you turn on the TV and CNN is reporting your death?”
“Do you…A) switch to MNSBC, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, (B) Pour scolding hot water on your lap, if it hurts your fine, (C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, (D) Relax, they do this once every year, (E) Ask yourself wtf ?”
“I thought the world was ending, but apparently it’s just me and I’m ok. Love, Mike.”
The network apologized for the error.
Entertainment Weekly reports:
A spokesperson for the network told Entertainment Weekly, “The package was published in error; we have removed it from our platforms and send our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family.”
********
The video in question showed viewers clips of Fox’s work over the years, as well as interview excerpts.
“He came into our living rooms on the small screen each week as Alex P. Keaton [on Family Ties] and eventually onto the big screen as Marty McFly in [Back to the Future],” the narrator said. “But Michael J. Fox had a compelling third act as Parkinson’s sufferer and stem cell research advocate.”
In 2025, Fox received the Presidential Medal of Freedom primarily for his decades of advocacy and work through The Michael J. Fox Foundation to advance Parkinson’s disease research.
He is married to actress Tracy Pollan, who he met on the set of Family Ties.
They were married in 1988 and have been since having four children: one son and three daughters.
The post CNN Airs Premature Death Tribute for Actor Michael J. Fox — Who Is Very Much Alive and Fires Back with Humor appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Politics
SAVE THE KINGDOM: Billionaire Expat Returns to Britain To Be Able To Donate Millions to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
British crypto billionaire Ben Delo – by Anne Schwarz Photography/Wiki Commons
Delo’s return is great news for Reform UK.
Under the incompetent, tax-hungry Labour party government, scores of wealthy people have chosen to leave Britain.
But one billionaire is making the inverse journey, in a bid to save his Kingdom.
He is returning to be able to donate millions to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, after accusing Labour of ‘trying to rig the next general election’.
Haha! Billionaire Brit Ben Delo who lives in Hong Kong donated £4 MILLION to Reform earlier this year, and Labour then blocked donations over £100k from Brits living abroad.
So he’s moving back to the UK to donate £MILLIONS more to Reform.
Have that @Keir_Starmer
pic.twitter.com/d3jWFf1iWi
— Lee Harris (@LeeHarris) April 8, 2026
The Telegraph reported:
“Ben Delo, who lives in Hong Kong, gave £4m to Reform earlier this year before the Government changed the law to put a £100,000 cap on donations from Britons living abroad.
Mr. Delo has accused Sir Keir Starmer of using legislation specifically to target big-money expat Reform donors “to stack the political deck against the most popular opposition party”.
Writing for The Telegraph, the 42-year-old says he is moving to the UK so he can donate millions more to Reform and ‘build a war chest’ for Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, to fight the next election.”
Nigel Farage hits out at Starmer:
“The scheming & dishonest Keir Starmer will not stop us”
“In fact, his actions have only made brave people like Ben Delo even more determined to beat Labour at the next election”
Fired up & ready
https://t.co/dnrV4OP90W @Telegraph pic.twitter.com/gDdKxeRT63
— The Reform Daily (@ReformDaily_) April 8, 2026
Delo is Britain’s youngest self-made billionaire, the co-founder of BitMEX, a cryptocurrency trading platform.
“Mr. Delo believes Sir Keir changed the law on donations to target Christopher Harborne, the billionaire who has donated £12m to Reform from his home in Thailand.”
Starmer is afraid expat donors can give Farage an unbeatable war chest.
Daily Mail reported:
“With Reform relying on big donations, Mr Delo said he hoped to inspire other rich expats to move back to defy Sir Keir’s ‘tinpot’ attempt to fix the next election.
The co-founder of cryptocurrency trading platform Bitmex said: ‘For Labour, sitting on its cushion of trade union funding, the idea that someone might create a level playing field by giving Reform as much money to spend as other parties is intolerable.’
[…] [Farage] said: ‘It is particularly gratifying to me personally, that someone like Ben – a builder, visionary and problem-solver, who has spent a lifetime grasping trends before other people do, sees the potential of Reform.’
Oxford graduate Mr. Delo, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at 11, said the ‘chronically dishonest’ culture of government makes it difficult for people with autism spectrum disorders to understand what politicians really mean.”
Read more: British Labour Government Temporarily Blocks Crypto Donations for Political Parties in Blow to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
The post SAVE THE KINGDOM: Billionaire Expat Returns to Britain To Be Able To Donate Millions to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Official logo of the National Football League Credit: NFL/Fair Use
The most popular sports league in America is now in the Justice Department’s crosshairs.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the DOJ has launched an investigation into the National Football League (NFL) over whether the league has engaged in anticompetitive practices that harm customers.
Per the Journal, this could seriously jeopardize the NFL’s antitrust exemption.
Professional sports leagues like the NFL are currently protected from antitrust action under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
The New York Post notes that this law has allowed teams to pool their media rights together into large TV packages.
The NFL has, in recent years, shifted some games to streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix, forcing customers to pay $1,000 to watch every professional football game.
This has turned into a massive windfall for the NFL and streaming companies.
More from the Post:
Media rights agreements between the NFL and streamers owned by Disney, Paramount, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, NFL Network, Amazon, Google, and Netflix are expected to rake in more than $100 billion in sports rights fees under their current contracts, according to the FCC’s filing in February.
Fox Corporation shares common ownership with The Post’s parent company, News Corp.
Pricey media rights deals have turned the NFL into a serious money-making business, with nearly all of the league’s 32 teams run by billionaires – including Walmart heir Rob Walton, who owns the Denver Broncos, and the Hunt family, which owns the Kansas City Chiefs.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr informed the Post last month that the NFL could lose its exemptions if it puts too many live games behind paywalls.
“For so long, Americans were used to just sitting down and grabbing the remote and just very quickly and easily finding the game,” Carr told The Post.
“Over the last couple of years, that experience has become much more frustrating and people have to sign up for multiple streaming services and they have to pay out of pocket for more of these and it’s difficult to find the game,” he added.
The Post reported in February that the FCC sought comments from sports fans on how streamers have affected them.
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee chairman, sent a letter to the DOJ and the FTC in March requesting a review of the NFL’s antitrust protections.
The post NEW: Trump DOJ Launches Investigation into the National Football League appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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CNN Airs Premature Death Tribute for Actor Michael J. Fox — Who Is Very Much Alive and Fires Back with Humor
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