Top NATO and European military officials called in Berlin on Wednesday for more military spending to deal with threats to Europe and said that would help address concerns raised by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

During the campaign, Democrats and the media read Trump the riot act for saying we may reduce our defense of NATO countries if they don’t start paying more for their own defense. Andrea Shalal reports for Reuters :

During his election campaign, Trump questioned whether the United States should protect allies seen as spending too little on their defense, raising fears he could withdraw funding for NATO at a time of heightened tensions with Russia. In Brussels on Wednesday, the European Union unveiled its biggest defense funding and research plan in more than a decade to reverse billions in cuts and demonstrate that it wants to pay for its own security.

All of a sudden, NATO countries are starting to suggest they will pay more for their own defense. Isn’t it amazing what a little jawboning will do? President Obama, Hillary, and Kerry had the option to tell NATO to pay more for eight years, and they didn’t do a darn thing.

Trump appears to be more successful in getting a message across before he is president than Obama was in eight years as president.

We should all remember that Ronald Reagan, the greatest president in my lifetime, caused the Soviet Union to collapse and brought down the Berlin Wall – not with starting a war, but with words and strength. It is a shame that Democrats learn so little from history.