Friends Like These: President Trump left the NATO summit claiming the alliance is much stronger today because of his demand that the member countries spend more money on defense.

Trump told reporters, “They really stepped up their commitment and stepped it up like they never have before. NATO now is really a fine-tuned machine. People are paying money that they never paid before. The United States is being treated much more fairly.”

What a difference 24 hours with Donald Trump makes.

Trump said the members have agreed to his demand that the 29 NATO countries speed up their increases in defense spending.

NATO military spending is not Trump’s issue alone. President Obama also pushed for Europe to spend more, but only four countries in addition to the US have hit the target of defense spending equivalent to 2 percent of gross domestic product.

NATO was formed to defend against Russia in the days of the Cold War, but Trump tweeted yesterday, “What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy? Why are there only 5 out of 29 countries that have met their commitment? The U.S. is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025.”

Trump made both the European allies and his own party squirm in discomfort. Former CIA Director John Brennan tweeted, “It is in the interest of America’s security if NATO leaders push back against the reckless behavior of Donald Trump, who is dangerously naive & grossly ignorant of how the world works. History inevitably will regard Trump as one of the most disastrous figures of the 21st century.”

Just the Facts: Trump claimed that many NATO countries owe the US money for defending Europe and that America pays 90 percent of the cost, which is not true. They do not owe the US any back payments.

The US pays about 22 percent of the $2.8 billion common NATO budget, but otherwise all the member countries, including the US, spend money on their own defense.

Four years ago the NATO countries agreed on the 2 percent spending target. While scolding Germany for spending just about 1 percent, Trump claims the US spends 4.2 percent of GDP, but the Pentagon says it’s 3.3 percent.

Trump has also claimed that the US pays 70- to 90 percent of  the cost of defending Europe, which is a Fig Newton of his imagination.

If you add up all the defense spending of the NATO countries, the US would account for two-thirds of the total. But the American defense budget is spent at home and around the world as well so, no, we don’t pay 90 percent of the cost of defending Europe.

Game Time: While Democrats are taking a close look at the philosophy and decision-making of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, The Washington Post reports on his questionable sending habits. He ran up big debts buying baseball tickets.

The Post says that in 2016 Kavanaugh reported between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt on three credit cards and a bank loan. The debts were either paid off or fell below the reporting requirements by the next year, but Kavanaugh did not have to report where he got the money.

Cold Pizza: The founder and chairman of Papa John’s Pizza has resigned after apologizing for using the n-word during a conference call in May. John Schnatter said it was a matter of context when he was talking about race and the National Football League, but people on the call were offended.

Schnatter has been the public face of the company in television commercials. After graduating from college, he opened his first restaurant in 1985 in Jeffersonville, Ind., and eventually expanded to more than 5,100 locations around the world.

Moving Day: A federal judge ordered that former Trump aide Paul Manafort must be moved to a different jail after the political fixer bragged that he was getting special privileges and VIP treatment in the Virginia jail where he’s been held since his bail was revoked.

Prosecutors say Manafort has been able to make hundreds of phone calls and send unlimited emails over phones and laptops brought to him by his legal team. It falls under attorney-client privilege.

Prosecutors filed a complaint saying, “Among the unique privileges Manafort enjoys at the jail are a private, self-contained living unit, which is larger than other inmates’ units, his own bathroom and shower facility, his own personal telephone and his own workspace to prepare for trial.” They said, “Manafort is also not required to wear a prison uniform.”

 Bloody Hell: England looked like it was cruising to its first World Cup championship since 1966 until Croatia dug itself out of a hole yesterday to win 2-1. They face France Sunday in the final.

Croatia scored in the 109^th minute of play. Somebody is going to have to explain the mystery of how soccer refs can just arbitrarily add more time to the game. Are they sure it shouldn’t have been eight minutes?

Belgian Waffle: Yesterday at a breakfast meeting while President Trump insulted Germany and lectured NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about defense spending, his Chief of Staff John Kelly was at the other end of the table looking pretty uncomfortable. Embarrassed might be the word. Asked about it later, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders explained to The Washington Post that Kelly “was displeased because he was expecting a full breakfast and there were only pastries and cheese.”

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