On the one hand, Putin’s not a bad guy. You can make deals with him, and we should bring him back to the G7. On the other hand, the Europeans need to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP to strengthen NATO. Does the message of the last few days make sense?
Clearly not. If Putin isn’t the big bad wolf, why should I bother to reinforce my house?
If Trump really wants to turn NATO into the 21st century version of the Delian League, he needs to be talking up what a menace Putin is, not embracing him.