We could get Europe to stop relying on U.S. air power and naval power, and be in a position to stand on their own in defending against a Continental invasion. But the cost of that is that we would have to cede our absolute air and naval superiority over to the countries of Europe.

See my previous post. Europe's most industrialized country at present course and speed can't get back to its 2004 levels in artillery for nearly 100 years. Think about that.

If we choose to walk away from that, we certainly can spend less on equipment in Europe, but there is a price associated with that.....

The France and Germany of today aren't our Grandfather's Frances and Germanys. Neither has a colonial presence, not that the world would accept that.

statista.com - Wwii pre war GDP

In 1938 the US was #1 with a GDP of $800 billion. Next up was UK with a total of $683B spread among the UK itself, their colonies and British dominion nations like Canada (it's fair to add them all up since they all were working for The Crown). Germany was 4th in the world (just less than half the US) and France was 6th (4x smaller than the US).

Today, the US is still #1. Germany's economy is now 1/6th of ours and France's is 9x smaller. Relative to us they've been moving backwards, a function of the general retrenchment of both to becoming social welfare states (despite Germany's relative strengths in exports).

They can't afford to arm up and conquer anything. The *best* they can do is put a shotgun by the door and try to keep The Bear at bay (and even The Bear needs significant help from The Dragon).