Liberals in the national media think it’s a major drawback that under Trump’s presidency, international opinion of the United States has dipped. They think it should embarrass Trump that the leaders of some of our Western allies don’t like him.

As with every other assessment they’ve made in the last four years, they’re wrong.

A news article in the Washington Post described the NATO summit this week as such: “President Trump, who has demeaned his domestic political rivals for being laughed at around the world, found himself the scorned child on the global playground at a NATO summit here Wednesday, as widely circulated video showed leaders gossiping about and mocking him.”

“The leaders of our NATO allies aren’t alone in seeing Trump as a dangerous joke — their citizens do, too,” wrote the liberal journalist Brian Klass on Friday. “And Trump’s deepening unpopularity in the other countries of the West is becoming as much of a threat to NATO as Trump himself.”

Oh, gosh, Trump's unpopularity is “deepening” outside the U.S., and world leaders mocked him? Time to panic!

What we’re actually witnessing is a correction to the decades of international go-along-to-get-along that has allowed our “allies” to use their wealth on fat social welfare programs rather than building up their militaries. They knew that when push comes to shove, the U.S. would be there, having committed to being their perpetual shield.

Under Trump, they saw that change. Past presidents have asked that our NATO allies contribute more to our joint defense effort, and year after year, they have failed to do it without consequences. With Trump, that certainty became a lot less certain.

When Trump said during his campaign announcement speech back in 2015 that the U.S. had become “a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” he was right. We take in more refugees than anyone else. We’re expected to let in all of Latin America’s poor. We contribute 22% of the United Nations’ funding, nearly doubling that of the next country, China.

It’s not written anywhere that this is the way things have to be. And there was a little clue that American voters knew that when they elected a celebrity businessman and reality game show host to lead the country.

An “alliance” is just that, an alliance. It doesn’t make us family. Our obligations to one another go both ways.

Trump has said he’s not afraid to hold world leaders accountable.

If that makes our allies uncomfortable, so be it. That’s a good thing.