Don't Cry for Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel is, her supporters like to gloat, the leader of the free world.

Just don't ask her to spend as if she is.

Donald Trump has made the German chancellor one of his favorite rhetorical targets, especially over Germany's anemic defense expenditures. This has led to worries about the future of the trans-Atlantic alliance, and reflexive support for Merkel among the American political elite.

Trump shouldn't openly mock Merkel, or suggest that there have been annual dues to NATO that Germany has failed to pay. Trump tends to view foreign countries like contractors trying to scam him in a...