On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post Associate Editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart stated that it’s incorrect to claim that Europe is ripping off the United States on defense by not spending enough on their defense because they’re not “paying the United States money in a protection racket.” It’s just people want them to “spend more of your GDP on your own defense, rise up to the level of where the United States is, relatively speaking” so that “the burden is more fairly shared.”
New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that Europe has increased its defense spending.
Capehart then stated, “I just want to jump in on something David was saying about defense expenditures, the way Donald Trump talks about it, he says, these countries are ripping us off, as if they’re paying the United States money in a protection racket. And that’s not what’s happening at all. To amplify David’s point, it’s just spend more of your GDP on your own defense, rise up to the level of where the United States is, relatively speaking, so that it’s — the burden is more fairly shared. And so the way the president talks about it, it’s not the real world.”
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