He Who Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger

President Trump is not anti-NATO. And using his insistence that NATO states meet the NATO pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defense (however flawed the definition is) as proof of that hostility is nonsense.

Oh please:

Those hoping the July NATO summit might be a time of family healing between the 29 allies appear to have gotten a rude awakening, following a series of letters from U.S. President Donald Trump to his NATO allies with a clear message: The summit will be all about who does and doesn’t spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

The article discusses alternatives to the 2% standard that NATO states during the Obama administration agreed to meet by 2024.

My view is that "alternative" definitions are intended to gut that promise rather than make it better. The article relies heavily on the Center for No New American Security, which I do not trust on issues of American security.

Focus on meeting the NATO goal agreed to rather than attempt to make the goal less meaningful.

And really, if Trump is anti-NATO, why is he spending so much effort trying to make it stronger?

I'll bring this up again if people keep insisting in defiance of all logic that Trump is against NATO.

UPDATE: Trump will not threaten to withdraw American troops from Europe when at NATO summit.

Again, there is a lot of needless worry being thrown out there about America's commitment to NATO.

UPDATE: Calm down admiral. NATO will discuss all those things he wants discussed. But more defense spending that Trump focuses on is needed to address all those things he wants discussed.

Is Trump's focus on defense spending really a danger to the alliance when, as he says, inadequate European defense spending must also be discussed "as it has been for years." Leading isn't about being loved. If it was, eight years of Obama--who the Europeans swooned over like giddy school girls--would have left Trump with a NATO where no member state had inadequate defense capabilities.