Click to view full size

NA­TO Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al Mark Rutte praised Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump for mak­ing Eu­rope “pay in a BIG way,” as al­lied lead­ers gath­ered in the Nether­lands on Tues­day for a his­toric sum­mit that could unite them around a new de­fense spend­ing pledge or widen di­vi­sions among the 32 mem­ber coun­tries.

The U.S. pres­i­dent, while fly­ing aboard Air Force One en route to The Hague, pub­lished a screen­shot of a pri­vate mes­sage from Rutte say­ing:

“Don­ald, you have dri­ven us to a re­al­ly, re­al­ly im­por­tant mo­ment for Amer­i­ca and Eu­rope and the world. You will achieve some­thing NO Amer­i­can pres­i­dent in decades could get done.”