Can the western alliance survive another Trump presidency?

Donald Trump will end up in jail or become the next president of the United States. There must be a lot of people, from the Washington establishment to the US intelligence community, to pretty well every leader in Nato who are hoping for the former rather than the latter. Or at least, if not a prison sentence, a legal tussle so great that even the most loyal Trump fan has second thoughts about putting him back in the White House. Trump is likely to put a political bomb under the Nato alliance and his choice of director of the CIA and director of national intelligence could transform the intelligence services into an arm of the White House rather than an independent organisation delivering truthful, accurate and responsible secret material. This is the sort of worst-case scenario which I am sure is now being examined very carefully by a multitude of very senior officials around the alliance. There are probably more fingers being crossed than at any time since the end of the Cold War. If Trump were ever to read my blogs he would undoubtedly consume this one with pleasure. He loves to stir things up and if he wins in November there is going to be the most almighty stirring up in modern American history.