Trump, NATO and the Media

Trump, NATO and the Media

 

On Jan. 31, Stoltenberg appeared on CNN, where anchor Poppy Harlow asked him about Trump. The former president has said the U.S. pays a lot for NATO and doesn't get a lot out of it, Harlow noted, and said if he wins another term, the U.S. might "fundamentally reevaluate" the role of NATO. "Would a second Trump presidency concern you about the future of U.S. membership in NATO?" Harlow asked. And then:

STOLTENBERGH: I believe the United States will continue to be a staunch NATO ally regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections because it is in the U.S. interest to have a strong --

HARLOW: Even under President Trump?

STOLTENBERGH: Well, I worked with him for four years and I listened carefully, because the main criticism has been about NATO allies spending too little on NATO, and the message has been taken across the alliance in Europe and Canada. So over the last years, NATO allies have significantly increased defense spending. More and more allies meet the NATO guideline on spending 2% of GDP on defense. ... In total, they have added 450 billion extra for defense. So the message from the United States that the European allies have to step up has been understood, and they are now really moving in the right direction, and that strengthens also the transatlantic bond within the alliance.

Needless to say, Stoltenberg's assessment -- that Trump's stand actually strengthened NATO -- got lost in the media hysteria that followed Trump's Conway speech. It could be that the speech said less about NATO and more about Trump's relationship with some media outlets, a relationship that is both troubled and transactional. Troubled for obvious reasons, and transactional because Trump knows if he offers them something hot enough, they will stop everything and obsess over him again, just as they always have. And that is the lesson, such as it is, of the latest Trump-NATO-media flareup.