Yes, there is a need. Because having 80K troops and clouds of aircraft means that the nations of Europe don't need to be independently ready to take on an invasion (should one happen) on their own. And because they don't have to do that, it dramatically lowers the temperature and risk of intra-European war.

How does this square with
Again, Russia isn't an imminent threat, and they're still under the NATO umbrella. That means they don't need to upend their economy to convert to a wartime footing.

Going back to 2004 levels or armament...isn't enough to ratchet up anything on the continent. Even at 1990 levels it's not enough for a France or a Germany to do anything.

We're going to have to agree to disagree here. There's nothing unreasonable about asking the Europeans to commit to their own defenses, to stop buying energy from Russia, and in allowing US goods to enter their market. For such staunch "allies" they've committed very little to their own defenses, have helped bankroll the Russia economy and until Trump showed up had 4x the tariffs plus who knows what else on US autos and other products.

There is no "level playing field". The "level playing field" has for the past several years tilted away from the US.