Donald Trump recently concluded a NATO summit where things were so rocky he joked that his meeting with Putin was the easy part. The talking heads in Washington have concluded this event was a disaster that threw NATO into chaos and damaged our special relationship. But the comments from Trump, compared to the slow-motion train wreck of Brexit negotiations and the positive reaction from Eastern Europe, suggests a need to reassess the opinions of Washington insiders.
As I predicted last year, endless negotiations between British leader Theresa May and the European Union have produced nothing and are leading Britain to a “hard exit.” In fact, German organizations recently warned their clients to prepare for just that. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but every day I read the paper, and every day it seems I read the same eye-rolling piece explaining how negotiations are “progressing” but there is never anything to announce, until last week. May announced a framework that her party could get behind and present to European Union officials. But two key secretaries in her cabinet immediately resigned in disagreement, and European Union officials cautioned that Britain could not pick and choose which parts of the Union they like. In short, May and Brexit officials say pleasant things to the papers and have lots of conversations in dulcet tones, but nothing gets done and the people of Britain will end up suffering in hard exit. I compared it to the confusion behind the first travel ban combined with the difficulties of tariffs and trade wars.
#Lithuania|n Foreign Minister @LinkeviciusL in the aftermath of #NATOSummit. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/ksjwchmpfl
— Lithuania MFA (@LithuaniaMFA) July 13, 2018
Happening at roughly the same time as the Brexit drama was the NATO summit. The typical liberal outlets called Trump a disaster before he left on his trip, and according to the same sources, Trump threw NATO into chaos. It’s true that Trump has a grating style that can press on allies, and his insistence that allies spend more can come across as bullying. Yet, the threat to NATO members’ countries, especially those on its Eastern flank, is real. That Eastern flank was pleased with his comments. Polish newspapers said that “Trump’s brutally sincere behavior has not broken NATO’s unity but has mobilized its members to further action that strengthened the organization.” The foreign minister of Lithuania wrote on Twitter: “Strength is a choice, not a given. Once again #NATOSummit bring us closer & stronger. We are resolute, committed to mutual defense, fair burden sharing.” And Estonia noted that their airspace was violated by Russia during the summit itself. The Romanian president, who also faces Russian pressure, summarized it best: “Trump said things plainly, as is normal between friends and allies.”
Unlike May, Trump doesn’t strike all the right notes that please the press, elites, and literati. But also unlike May, his tough and sometimes aggressive or grating rhetoric produces results. NATO countries plan to spend more money, and those most affected by Russian aggression see the alliance as being very strong. Just like moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, past presidents have striven towards this goal for a long time, but Trump finally did it. The only people who are upset seem to be those who like endless palavering and state dinners but don’t seem to care as much about actual results.
