The New York Times ripped President Trump’s NATO speech, calling it “embarrassing.”

That’s the expected line from the Times, and more often than not – ME.

Just to be completely honest, it’s not so much about the NATO speech, but just the fact that a reality show huckster, with a 4^th grader’s vocabulary is president embarrasses me.

But I digress.

Even if the tone and delivery were predictably subpar, he had a point, according to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Said Rumsfeld:

“I think it’s particularly important that the president of the United States look them in the eye and talk to them about how important it is,” Rumsfeld, George W. Bush’s Defense secretary and a former ambassador to NATO, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“Those countries for the most part are simply not meeting the NATO target and they should,” he said.

There’s a target that NATO members are asked to meet, although it’s not required and there are no penalties for failure to meet the goal of 2 percent of that member nation’s GDP.

Trump railed against those nations, talking down to them as if they were children for their failure to pay their share, placing the bulk of expense on the U.S.

I’d say he’s not wrong in asking that they do more to meet the target goal. He just has no ability to say it in a way that doesn’t give off that “ugly American” vibe.

“It’s not really contributing, it’s investing,” Rumsfeld said.

“He sounded like I did thirty, forty years ago when I was ambassador. It has to be done, they are not doing it,” he said.

Well, if there’s any silver lining to be picked out of a Trump presidency, perhaps his unpredictable, unschooled, unhinged manner may lead some to actually contribute more, just to keep him from doing something harmful, in a fit of pique.

There’s always that.

Rumsfeld defends Trump's NATO speech: 'I'm glad he did it' https://t.co/2zLciIAXPm

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 26, 2017