Rumsfeld: I’m Glad Trump Scolded NATO Allies About Not Contributing Enough

EXCERPT:

RUMSFELD: "It’s important that he went there. It’s a critical alliance for the United States. And I’ve heard critiques of the fact that people were worried that he talked to them about the fact that they were not contributing and investing the target shot of 2 percent of their gross national product in defense. And he sounded like I did 30, 40 years ago when I was ambassador. It has to be done. They’re not doing it. I think there are only five countries that are hitting the 2 percent. And it’s important that they do that. I think it’s particularly important that the president of the United States look them in the eye and talk to them about how important it is. When I went — when Eisenhower was president, it was 10 percent of our GDP going to defense. Today we’re below 4 percent of GDP. We’ve come down considerably. But those countries, for the most part, are simply not meeting the NATO target. And they should. Someone needs to tell them that. That I’m glad he did it."