It’s a bit confusing to figure out who technically owns the bases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_military_installations

As near as I can tell, almost all of them are actually owned by the US. The more important aspect is how it affects the “deal”.

The implied “deal” has always been that the US provides military resources to defend “the West” against the USSR/Russia and, in exchange, the US gets to be the primary voice in determining international policy (ie the famous “rules based international order”). That’s why the US president has traditionally been referred to as, “the leader of the free world.”

That deal has degraded a bit over time as other Western countries recovered from the damage of WWII and started flexing their own power.

Altering the deal so that everyone else pays entirely (or mostly) for its own defense also removes or seriously damages the incentive to follow the US vision of international policy.

This seems like an insane threat.
The US is the primary beneficiary of NATO. Does he expect all those countries will keep hosting US military bases if NATO drops?

This guy reminds me of Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf.

I’m really worried that the Democratic leadership is shooting itself in the foot.

A significant portion of the voter base that the Democratic party is counting on has serious and legitimate problems with the policy decisions of the administration. They’re making their thoughts known through all the channels they should theoretically be using; peaceful protest, petitions, letters etc.

Rather than addressing and validating any of these concerns the overwhelming response has been to ridicule those voters. People don’t respond well to, “Fuck you. Do what you’re told.” but that’s all they’re getting. Whenever people point this out the typical response is more of the same. All variations of, “It doesn’t really matter what you think or what you expect your elected official to do. Just shut up and vote for Biden.”