The carrot is exactly the thing you're complaining about - that other nations don't have to invest in military infrastructure and the US polices international shipping on everyone's behalf, and every now and then the US does a genocide to keep the Saudis happy and the oil flowing, and everyone lets them. It's the very set of agreements and obligations that Trump has thrown out the window because he wants to shake the world down for its pennies.

The rationale being forth here is simply naive. The US hasn't been getting a raw deal. If anything Trump's behavior is making it clear to the world how bad the deal has been for everyone else.