[Hostage]

This was absolutely Reaganesque.

After hearing this speech delivered, no one can say Donald Trump is not articulate nor erudite, but rather clear, strong and forceful.

I can personally vouch that everything he said about the rest of the world disrespecting the United States is absolutely true, including our allies. Donald knows that the surest and fastest way to gain respect is to require all parties to put money into the pot. If that is not done, then the lone donor is looked at as if they are clueless and stupid.

[noiseman]

Trump should expand upon his comments about making allied nations fund their own defense by explaining that the U.S. has essentially been funding Europe's bloated welfare state by defending them. If they had to pay their own defense costs, they wouldn't be able to divert those funds toward creating socialist "Utopias." Relieving them of their defense burden also makes it easier for them to unfairly compete with us, via efforts such as their subsidizing of EADS, the consortium that produces Airbus aircraft and competes with Boeing, just as one example. We certainly should not be essentially paying for foreign companies to take business from our own manufacturers. That's exactly the type of thing Trump alludes to when he says that our leaders have been stupid about trade. He's right.

One caveat I would offer, though, is that we should be careful to maintain our nuclear umbrella that protects allied nations like Japan, South Korea, etc. Were we to totally withdraw from protecting those countries they would likely develop their own nuclear arsenals, increasing the likelihood of their use and complicating non-proliferation efforts.