By Gary Bauer
NATO leaders are in Washington this week, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the historic alliance. Yesterday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addressed a joint session of Congress. I suspect Stoltenberg's remarks surprised many in the chamber and no doubt disappointed many on the left. Here's what he said:
"NATO is a strong alliance. But to remain a strong alliance, NATO must be a fair alliance. . . Freedom has enemies, and they need to be deterred. And if deterrence fails, we need to fight.
"Hitler could not have been stopped with peaceful protest. Stalin could not have been deterred with words. ISIS could not have been defeated with dialogue. . . Our desire for a peaceful world is simply not enough. . .
"NATO allies must spend more on defense. This has been the clear message from President Trump. And this message is having a real impact.
"After years of reducing defense budgets, all allies have stopped the cuts. . . Before they were cutting billions. Now they are adding billions. In just the last two years, European allies and Canada have spent an additional $41 billion on defense. By the end of next year, that figure will rise to $100 billion.
"This is making NATO stronger. . . This is good for Europe, and it is good for America."
Remember all the hysteria about how Trump was attacking our friends and alienating our allies? Remember how we were told over and over again that Trump was "soft on Russia"? It was all total nonsense.
In what world is demanding that our European allies step up and spend more on defense "soft on Russia"?
Now we have NATO's top official praising the president's leadership and telling Congress that Trump has been good for NATO, good for Europe and good for America. Hopefully some #NeverTrumpers were listening yesterday.
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