NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte played to U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s love of praise and splashy visuals during a visit to Washington that was aimed at easing the U.S. leader¡¯s anger over alliance nations¡¯ reluctance to help with the campaign against Iran.
Meeting Trump in the Oval Office, Rutte displayed posters that featured gold lettering and bright red bar charts labeled ¡°The Trump Trillion¡± and ¡°The Trump 47 Effect.¡± They highlighted how much more money NATO nations have spent on defense since Trump first took office in 2017.
¡°I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president is able to achieve,¡± Rutte said. European nations matching the U.S. on defense spending was something that hadn¡¯t been achieved since the administration of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, he said.
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