Before participating in his first G7 Summit tomorrow, President Donald Trump took a day trip to Brussels, Belgium to meet with the member of NATO. His publicized conversation with them was one of the many firsts this week he’s had in his presidential role, but bigger than that was the verbal lashing he dished out on the world’s stage, and for good reason. Needless to say, the members didn’t appreciate the public lashing as is proven in their response caught on camera as they stood behind Trump’s back while he finally said what Barack Obama avoided for eight years.
Donald Trump stood within feet of our NATO counterparts today embarking on an historic speech which ended up being one for the ages. When people don’t pay their bills, they can expect debt collectors to relentlessly call and hound them until they do. While consumers are forced to endure this nauseating payment approach until they settle the debt, bills owed by government groups can go decades without being paid, despite the government being the ultimate form of annoying debt collection, ie. the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Today, President Trump paid the part of debt collector to unsuspecting NATO members who owe a lot and haven’t expected to pay for almost a decade under Barack Obama. True to Trump’s bold form, he outlined from his public podium how 23 of the 28 NATO countries are not paying their fair share into the NATO defense fund. As the speech continued it was clear that many of the NATO members were becoming very uncomfortable. They began to whisper to each other and chuckle thinking it’s funny that the Commander-in-Chief would expect them to pay into the fund.
The members all knew that they haven’t been paying but no American president had ever called them out on it until today, for which it was not well received. Trump was definitely the man to do it, as a non-career politician whose only allegiance is to the American people, and didn’t flinch at their smirks and whispering. In fact, their arrogant attitude only seemed to embolden his words and resolve on this important issue.