West Wing Reads

Trump Is Trying to Save NATO By Demanding 

Members Pay a Fair Share

“President Trump intends to keep pushing at this week’s NATO summit for other alliance members to up their defense spending, but it’s worth noting the success he’s already had,” the New York Post editorial board writes.

“Since 2006, each member nation has been supposed to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense. Yet only the United States and two other members hit that mark in 2014, when NATO formally re-committed to the goal. Now eight European countries are on track to meet it this year: Britain, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.”

The bottom line: “For all the complaints that the president has been alienating America’s allies, it sure looks like he has strengthened the most important US alliance.”

Click here to read more.



“First lady Melania Trump has officially decked the halls of the White House. This year, the theme is ‘The Spirit of America.’ The 2019 decorative approach features glittery patriotism throughout 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” The official White House Christmas Tree arrived last week, Natacha Larnaud reports for CBS News.



“Forgetting the lesson from the boy who cried wolf, Democrats have lost their grip on the public’s attention toward their incessant schemes for dumping President Trump . . . The relentless yammering for a legislative coup is fading into background noise, tuned out by a nation anxious to move ahead,” The Washington Times editorial board writes.



With only seven legislative days left in the year, House leadership has all but tabled any real agenda for working Americans, including passing the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi now says she believes “there is not enough time” left this year to vote on USMCA, despite House Democrats spending nearly 30 legislative days on impeachment, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) writes in the Washington Examiner.