As multiple self-inflicted crises and a new criminal investigation envelop his administration, President Donald Trump threatens to bring his brand of chaos to America's critical alliances on his first foreign trip. Among other recent catastrophes, America's allies looked on in horror as Trump shared laughs with Russia's foreign minister in the Oval Office.

Now more than ever, America's allies need to be reassured that the United States remains committed to our common defense. But Trump's on and off again dislike of NATO appears to be on again just ahead of his first summit with NATO leaders. Instead of using this trip to strengthen our alliances, Trump appears to be doing his best to weaken America's leadership abroad.

In the last few weeks, Trump has done more to undermine key U.S. alliances than any previous president. The day after firing FBI Director James Comey – likely because Comey would not stop investigating the Trump campaign's ties to Russia – Trump welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov into the Oval Office. The pictures of the two smiling together reaffirmed widespread concerns about Trump undermining allied interests in exchange for better relations with Russia.

In that very meeting, Trump bragged about the intelligence he receives by revealing highly classified information (reportedly received from Israel) about an Islamic State group terrorist plot. In doing so, Trump gave the information to Russia, a country allied with Israel's (and America's) enemies Syria and Iran. Israeli intelligence was reportedly livid, as this revelation may have cost the West its best source of intelligence on an active terrorist plot. And while in Israel during his first presidential trip abroad, Trump unintentionally confirmed that Israel was the source of the intelligence during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

If that wasn't enough, previewing Trump's first NATO summit meeting, a senior White House official said Trump "is not going to stay in NATO if NATO doesn't make a lot more progress much quicker."

It's hard to imagine a series of actions creating a more difficult environment for a president's first foreign trip.

Trump clearly does not understand how alliances work. His repeated comments about getting allies to pay more is not only incorrect (for instance, NATO allies don't pay the United States), but misses the entire point of an alliance.

Allied countries are America's best friends; they fight with America in wartime, deter aggression in peacetime, work together on diplomatic priorities such as stopping Iran's nuclear program, and they share vital intelligence with the United States (the very intelligence that Trump so carelessly boasted with to Russia).

NATO has been the world's most successful military alliance, period. NATO was born in 1949 at the dawn of the Cold War, as conflict with the Soviet Union was heating up and as Europe was poor and divided in the wake of World War II. Fears of Soviet aggression in Europe and a possible war with the United States were rampant. But in the decades that followed, NATO provided the security that succeeded in allowing Europe to rebuild and prosper and deterred Soviet aggression in Europe and against the United States.

When the Cold War ended, NATO expanded to include states of the former Soviet bloc, helping them grow and solidify democratic institutions. And for years, NATO troops have fought alongside U.S. troops in the Balkans and Afghanistan. Whatever problems exist in the NATO alliance today, they pale in comparison to its monumental achievements.

This week, Trump will travel to Brussels for his first meeting with NATO leaders. While Trump recently reversed his previous claims that NATO is "obsolete" during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, no one really buys it.

Trump's warm embrace of the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in the Oval Office, his nice words for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the extensive evidence of possible collusion between his campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election, and his attempts to end the FBI's investigation into that possible collusion terrify U.S. allies in NATO. America's closest friends are now watching their strongest ally throw them under the bus in exchange for their most feared enemy, and they are growing increasingly alarmed.

One senior NATO diplomat told The Washington Post last week that "we're facing it day by day. But I'm scared of what happens when there is a crisis." And a Dutch lawmaker called Trump's presidency "disturbing" and expressed concern that the "vacuum may encourage people all over the world to seize the moment of an absent United States."

Trump needs to change his tune quickly. If he wants to defeat the Islamic State group, counter Iran and combat terrorism, he will need Israel's close cooperation. Giving away closely guarded Israeli intelligence to Russia is a sure way to end that cooperation.

In order to combat terrorism, counter Iran, and fight the Islamic State group, Trump will also need NATO's help. Furthermore, if Trump is looking at how to move forward in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida and the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, NATO cooperation will continue to be essential. Treating Russia's leaders better than NATO allies will severely damage U.S. interests in all of these areas.