Our friend Justin Logan, the Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and a former contributor to this website, explains (along with Sumantra Maitra, Cato’s Director of Research and Outreach) clearly and accurately how President Trump’s withdrawal of some troops from Europe is a benefit to America, and should be followed up by further cuts. Logan writes:

President Trump shocked the foreign-policy establishment with an announcement late Friday that the United States would be withdrawing roughly 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany.

Predictably, Washington’s Europe-Firsters snapped for their fainting couches. Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairs of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, respectively, pronounced themselves “very concerned” by the move, fretting that it “risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.”

President Trump is right to withdraw troops from Germany and from Europe. Neocon Republicans and Democrats are wrong. There is already a template for a rapid withdrawal from Europe: the one that took place after the end of the Cold War — incidentally, also the last era when the U.S. had a balanced budget. Our only criticism is that Trump’s current withdrawal numbers don’t go far enough. (In fairness, the president promised on Saturday that he is “going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”)

Read more here.

At a recent press conference, Vice President Vance commented on the troop withdrawals:

Reporter: The Pentagon halted 4,000 troops to Poland. Why are you rewarding Putin and punishing your best ally in Europe?

Vance: There’s been no president who’s done more to ensure that Ukraine survived the invasion of Russia than Trump. Poland is capable of defending itself.… pic.twitter.com/kcj4AdY4bu

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 19, 2026