Speak softly and carry a big stick.–TR

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, President Trump points out that he alone is fighting to reform defense pact spending that costs American taxpayers. “We’re protecting immensely wealthy countries and they’re not paying us for the protections,” President Trump says. “Why aren’t we being reimbursed for this massive cost?”–White House. Sept. 5

President Trump writes that America pays to protect wealthy countries. Why aren’t we being reimbursed for this massive cost? he wonders. The obvious answer, which he seems not to understand, is that it is our choice and done in our interest.

For whatever reason, America spends more on military readiness than any other country. We do this because we judge it to be necessary.  Although other countries may spend less, their contributions to the common defense are important, their status as allies independent of other foreign military powers is in our interest.

In the 1930s, Germany gobbled up Austria and Czechoslovakia while the world watched. In the 1940s, America fought Japan to stem the expansion of Japanese military and economic power in Asia. During the cold war, there was a fear that the Soviet Union, having incorporated much of Eastern Europe, would continue to overrun one country after another. America, right or wrong, fought wars in Korea and Vietnam to counter Soviet and Chinese interests. The countries that we were defending–Britain, Norway, France, Belgium, Holland, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam–couldn’t pay, weren’t expected to pay, and were defended nevertheless whether they liked it or not. It was done in our interest as well as possibly in theirs.

In the Daily Caller interview, Trump said: Amazingly, a lot of generals don’t understand it. It is very likely true that generals have a different understanding of military strategy than the President. It is said that they regard him as hopelessly naive. It’s clear why that’s so.