It is only fitting that all the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders gathered in Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and observe the 75th anniversary of its creation.

They should have met with Donald Trump, too. He is the toughest guy around. Even bullets can’t stop him.

He will dominate NATO once elected. Once the driving force behind NATO, the U.S. under Biden has turned the organization into an American cash cow for Europe and Ukraine, even as he confuses Vladimir Putin with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is too bad some of that money did not go toward increased Secret Service protection for Trump.

NATO originally had only 12 nations—the U.S., Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Currently it has 32 members dealing with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including Putin’s soulless war on Ukrainian children.

While Putin has been overwhelmingly critical of NATO, his invasion of Ukraine has strengthened the organization, bringing in Sweden and Finland.

Somehow, though, the NATO member nation leaders might have been better off if they added a side trip to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump before the shooting incident in Butler, Pa where Trump was wounded by a potential assassin.

Come January, though, they may soon be dealing with Trump. The attempt on Trump’s life will only make him even stronger.

And to Trump, who has been critical of deadbeat NATO members, the organization just might as well be called the North Atlantic Turkey Organization (NATO) whose leaders, in his eyes, are   bunch of turkeys, including Joe Biden.

Several NATO country leaders resented Trump’s bellicose attitude toward them when he was president and how he ridiculed delinquent member nations to force them to pony up two per cent of their GDP to fund the organization.

Several did, most did not.

Trump basically believes that the European nations have been ripping off the U.S. for years and that they should basically be paying for their own defense, not relying on the U.S.

While Biden believes that all American millionaires and billionaires should be paying their “fair share” in taxes, he readily has let the deadbeat members of NATO off the hook when it comes to them paying theirs.

No so, Trump. Trump in February quoted the leader of an unnamed delinquent NATO country asking, “Well sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?”

“I said: You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent? He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ “

Trump said, “No, I would not protect you. In fact. I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay.”

You get Trump’s drift when it comes to deadbeats, which is why he answered with a shrug when Biden asked him at the debate if he would pull the U.S.  out of NATO.

Trump believes that NATO has made a fool out of the U.S., and that the European nations should pay for their own defense.

As it stands now, only 20 or so member nations have met the 2% of GDP threshold target, while three have exceeded it. The three are Poland, 3.9%, the U.S. 3.49%, and Greece, 3.01%.

In essence, the U.S. contribution to NATO makes up for 68% of its budget.

The rest of the member nations, including Canada, Spain and Belgium, have failed to make the 2%.

Biden says Ukraine can stop Putin. He may be right, but Ukraine can’t win the war. At best it is a stalemate.

At worst Biden’s support of Ukraine has unified four anti-American powers—Russia, China, Iran and North Korea—all of whom promise grief for the U.S.

It is their answer to NATO. And they are not turkeys. They are vultures and they are tough. But Trump is tougher.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is helped off the stage by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)