Morning Brief: Trump Scores NATO Win & A California College Sparks Smut Uproar

President Donald Trump secures increased funding from NATO members, Senate Republicans consider the “Big Beautiful Bill,” and a therapy student blows the whistle with explosive allegations on mandatory training in smut.

It’s Thursday, June 26, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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The North Atlantic Trump Organization

Topline: In a significant foreign policy victory for President Trump, NATO allies agreed Wednesday to his demands that they increase defense spending.

President Trump took a victory lap following his successful strikes on Iran and subsequent ceasefire on Wednesday, scoring another feather in his foreign policy cap. For years, Trump has been a vocal critic of NATO, arguing that the United States was being taken advantage of by its allies, who spend far less on defense for the NATO alliance. He arrived at The Hague this week demanding that member states increase their defense spending from 2% of GDP to 5% by 2035, and almost all members quickly agreed.

For context, one country — the United States — currently accounts for more than two-thirds of NATO’s entire defense budget.

“For too long, one ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden of that commitment — and that changes today,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said. “President Trump — dear Donald — you made this change possible… we will produce trillions more for our common defense to make us stronger and fairer by equalizing spending between America and America’s allies.”

In exchange for that increased spending, President Trump reiterated his commitment to adhering to Article 5, the NATO clause that states an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. 

Ahead of the summit, Trump said he wasn’t sure where he stood on Article 5, and that it “depends on your definition.” However, once the other members agreed to increase defense spending, the president offered his full support. 

The only holdout among the alliance was Spain. The country’s prime minister said 5% was “unacceptable” and would force him to cut social services. Instead, they plan to increase their spending from just 1.2% to 2%. That clearly angered Trump, who said he’d make them pay more in a future trade deal.

In a press conference at the summit, the president also refuted reports that Iran’s nuclear facilities only sustained minor damage in U.S. strikes last weekend, reiterating that Iran’s nuclear program was “completely and fully obliterated.” Trump announced that the United States would meet with Iranian officials next week to ensure the country does not continue to pursue a nuclear weapon.

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Nears Senate Vote

Topline: The Senate is set to vote on Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” – will the GOP majority hand the president a win on his signature legislation?

The Republican-led Senate is set to vote on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill this week despite some continued divisions within the GOP. The bill contains many of President Trump’s key policy planks, including increased immigration enforcement and defense spending, a $5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling, his promised ‘no tax on tips,’ and permanent extensions for the 2017 tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term.

“It is so important that we get this one big bill, this one big beautiful bill over the line,” Stephen Miran, chairman of the nonpartisan Council of Economic Advisors, told The Daily Wire. “If we don’t, it’s going to be the biggest tax hike in history. It’s going to be a $4 trillion tax hike on American families and American workers.”

A key sticking point has been the bill’s pricetag – the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that it would add $3 trillion to the deficit. Supporters dispute that characterization, arguing that the CBO isn’t factoring in the economic growth they believe the bill would create, which they say could result in a net decrease of deficit spending on the order of trillions of dollars over the next 10 years. 

“More tax revenues reduce the deficit,” Miran said. “So the best way to reduce the deficit in debt is to grow the economy. …[The] CBO just ignores growth altogether… [and] tariff revenue. Tariffs are bringing in total deficit reduction – hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue every year going forward.”

However, some Republican senators remain skeptical and continue to argue that passing the bill would be fiscally irresponsible.

“I’m not for raising the debt ceiling by 5 trillion dollars,” Sen. Rand Paul(R-KY) said. “I think that is a mistake to have such a large extension of the credit line to a Congress that has shown disregard for fiscal responsibility.

The Republicans have a three-seat majority in the Senate – Vice President JD Vance will presumably break any ties in the president’s favor, but unless Democrats decide to cross the aisle (which appears highly unlikely), the “Big Beautiful Bill” will need the support of at least 50 of the 53 Senate Republicans.

A Course You’ll Remember In Therapy

Topline: A California psychology student training to be a therapist is blowing the whistle on alleged ideological bias and required sexual disclosure in therapy training. The following story is not appropriate for younger readers.

Naomi Epps Best, a 26-year-old graduate student at Santa Clara University, decided to go public with allegations against her university’s psychology counseling program. Best says she was required to write a sexual autobiography and was subjected to gratuitous smut in one of her required classes, “Human Sexuality.” 

“I immediately discovered in the syllabus sadomasochistic erotica, a crassly written pornographic illustration guide, and the final exam was an eight to 10 page comprehensive sexual autobiography: ‘When did I start masturbating? Chronicle my sexual past and present.’ I requested an accommodation not to complete this sexual autobiography and I was denied. I went up the chain to the professor, the chair, the dean, the provost, the president, the Title IX office, the campus ministry office and the ombudsman and I was met with institutional indifference to my ethical concerns.”

Best later asked for an accommodation she heard had been offered to Muslim students – the ability to take the course remotely. Instead, she said the professor asked to meet with her and promised that there would be no required sexual disclosure and everything would be professional.

“In this new class, I was required to write something down anonymously about something I disliked about my breasts or my genitals. We watched bondage videos, tutorial videos… there’s an argument to be made that therapists should be aware of the breadth of human sexual practices, including BDSM. I am not contesting that. But the manner in which this material was presented was promotional. It was actually a promotional video for a sex dungeon. And when the video ended, the professor said, ‘So what do you think? Who wants to try it?’ There was no clinical framing.”

The Daily Wire reached out to Santa Clara University for comment. A spokesperson stated that the Human Sexuality class has been taught with a similar approach and assignments since the mid-1990s. They added that “we do not agree with many of the student’s public assertions about the class” and that “people who were present” dispute Best’s characterization of classroom discussions and course content.