Some Seem Rather Upset That Trump Wants NATO Members To Pay Their Fair Share

Isn’t paying a “fair share” a big Leftist mantra around the world? It’s sure something Democratic Party voters yammer about on a constant basis here in the United States. But, really, over all these months, there is almost nothing Trump can do, say, or propose that will make Democrats happy. Trump could announce a tripling of Planned Parenthood’s funding and Democrats would still find a reason to slam Trump.

Trump chastises fellow NATO members, demands they meet payment obligations

President Trump exported the confrontational, ­nationalist rhetoric of his campaign across the Atlantic on Thursday, scolding European leaders for not footing more of the bill for their own defense and lecturing them to stop taking advantage of U.S. taxpayers.

This is in the straight news section of the Washington Post, mind you, not the opinion pages. You might think otherwise.

Speaking in front of a twisted shard of the World Trade Center at NATO’s gleaming new headquarters in Brussels, Trump upbraided America’s longtime allies for “not paying what they should be paying.” He used a ceremony dedicating the memorial to NATO’s resolve in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States as a platform to exhort leaders to “focus on terrorism and immigration” to ensure their security.

And he held back from the one pledge NATO leaders most wanted to hear: an unconditional embrace of the organization’s solemn treaty commitment that an attack on a single alliance nation is an attack on all of them.

Instead, European leaders gazed unsmilingly at Trump while he said that “23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying,” and that they owe “massive amounts” from past years — a misstatement of NATO’s spending targets, which guide individual nations’ own domestic spending decisions.

Shouldn’t they be paying their fair share? Over to the opinion pages of the Washington Post

Trump’s behavior at NATO is a national embarrassment

Poor NATO. After all of the hoops summit organizers reportedly jumped through to accommodate President Trump and his anemic attention span, he definitely was not on his best behavior. Trump was the party guest whom no one really wants to deal with but has to — because he has more money than anyone else. The party guest who shows up and berates the hosts for not paying for their fair share of the defense spending cake. To borrow from NFL player Marshawn Lynch, Trump acted as though he was there just so he wouldn’t get fined.

Let’s perform an intellectual hypothetical exercise, shall we? Look up at the ceiling and consider how the media would have considered Mr. Obama stating that NATO members needed to pay their fair share.

Crossed at Right Wing News.