The unexpected has just occurred.
The New York Times, which represents the “opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher,” has just admitted that President Donald Trump succeeded in getting everything out of the NATO summit last week that former President Barack Obama could never achieve.
On Thursday, the mainstream newspaper published an opinion piece titled, “Trump Got From NATO Everything Obama Ever Asked For,” admitting that while Trump may have bruised a few EU egos, he did advance an initiative to keep the U.S. allies on inline with their fair share of NATO costs.
“Now that the smoke has cleared from the NATO summit meeting, the most tangible result is apparent: President Trump advanced President Barack Obama’s initiative to keep the allies on track to shoulder a more equitable share of NATO’s costs,” wrote The New York Times.
You read that right: the liberal newspaper has come forward admitting that Trump’s latest moves were appropriate — a goal that Obama was never able to pull off.
The New York Times that seems to bash Trump every day has officially come full circle applauded the president for putting America first.
“The president publicly browbeat and insulted allies as deadbeats taking advantage of American generosity. He then raised the ante, demanding that they meet the 2 percent target — it’s a target, not some specific legal obligation — by January and then go on to raise spending to 4 percent of G.D.P,” The Times wrote.
The editorial board was referring to Trump’s argument that if NATO allies increased their spending to be inline with the U.S., the U.S. could lower its own spending and eventually bring thousands of troops home.
“The U.S. pays tens of Billions of Dollars too much to subsidize Europe, and loses Big on Trade!” Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday.
Surprisingly, The Times agreed. “Other allies could better advance their own security, and NATO’s, by spending more to solve the migration crisis and other problems that have fanned nationalism and authoritarianism, and weakened democratic institutions, especially in Turkey, Hungary and Poland. This trend, encouraged insidiously by Russia, may be the biggest threat, eroding the alliance from within.”
Trump campaigned on the promise to increase U.S. allies’ spending, or to withdraw from NATO — and so far, he has made good on his promise to advance the allies’ initiative.
The president’s delivery on that promise even has the liberal New York Times taking notice.
–The Horn editorial team