President Donald Trump, contrary to what the media believe, is not interested in being more popular than his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

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He indicates, in fact, that striving to gain popularity and the acceptance of foreign countries rather than doing what is best for America is bad policy.

At a “Keep America Great” rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Monday night, the president explained why he’s not well-liked in European nations — and why he’s perfectly content with that idea.

“The day that I’m more popular than him [Obama], I’m not doing my job,” he told a packed house.

Trump was referring to his success in forcing Nato allies to contribute a little more to their own defense — provided by America — than they have in the past.

Trump explained why promoting “America first” is such a problem to nations that have taken advantage of the United States for decades.

“I got other NATO members to pay an additional $100 billion in the last year-and-a-half that they weren’t paying,” he said.

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“They were delinquent. Now we’re finally making immensely wealthy countries pay the cost of their defense.”

“Then, I read where Obama is more popular in Germany than Trump. He’s got to be,” the president quipped. “I’m making people pay their bills.”

Polls show that Germans do believe that relations with America have worsened, while Obama continues to get a “rock-star reception” in the country.

Trump raised the ire of German officials in 2017 when he dared to put the American economy over the priorities of the global warming-centric Paris climate accord.

Trump succeeded where former President George W. Bush and Obama both had failed before, by deporting a Nazi war criminal to Germany.

In other words, he’s working for the country he represents — not seeking to make friends around the world.

Trump’s words in dismissing the notion of popularity echo those of former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who excoriated the organization for taking advantage of the United States with its budgets, vowing it would not continue if it didn’t start voting with America.

“We care more about being right than popular and are once again standing up for our interests and values,” she said.

Our interests and values come first.

That’s Trump’s mantra in supporting America first. What a concept.

This piece originally appeared in The Political Insider and is used by permission.

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