President Donald Trump has long considered European states freeloaders on defense and diplomacy. He was not wrong.

A major first-term achievement was naming, shaming, and forcing countries to meet their NATO budget commitments. In Iraq and Afghanistan, most European states — the United Kingdom and Denmark excepted — would avoid combat but then demand equal diplomatic influence. Germany has historically been the most egregious, seeking to profit from both Russia and Iran by breaking the solidarity of the United States and the rest of the European Union.