President Donald Trump’s reckless talk about Greenland, his disdainful rhetoric toward NATO allies and his erratic style have prompted a flood of commentary declaring the trans-Atlantic alliance all but finished and the postwar world order effectively dead. But it is a mistake to confuse volatility with collapse — and a greater mistake to assume that Trump’s words represent America’s permanent direction. Yet what followed was also revealing: no invasion, no treaty rupture, no withdrawal from NATO, no abandonment of U.S. forces in Europe. It assumes that because Trump questions NATO, NATO is therefore ending; that because America’s attention is divided, Europe is suddenly on its own; that because U.S. rhetoric is harsher, U.S. commitments are void. A Europe that can do more for its own defense strengthens NATO; it does not bury it.