“America is no longer an ally."
— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) April 24, 2026
Trump’s actions prove he’s no longer a Nato ally and the rest of Europe needs to “double down” on defence spending to replace America’s “firepower” says Nato’s Former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, General Sir Richard Shirreff. pic.twitter.com/Uo558SgLms
A year before Donald Trump previously left the presidency, we learned that he had
told the president of the European Commission in 2020 that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked and also said “Nato is dead”, a senior European commissioner said.
Multiple news outlets said the exchange between Trump and
Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 was described
in Brussels on Tuesday by Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner
responsible for the internal market, with responsibilities including defence.
“You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you,” Trump said, according to Breton, who was speaking at the European parliament.
According to Breton, Trump also said: “By the way, Nato is dead, and we will leave, we will quit Nato.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, Trump added: “And by the way, you owe me $400bn, because you didn’t pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defence.”
Just this week, The Independent reported
The Trump administration has reportedly drawn up a “naught
or nice”-style list of NATO allies, separating them into different categories
based on how the U.S. grades their contribution to the alliance.
The reported effort comes as President Donald Trump has furiously denounced the transatlantic alliance for not doing more to support the U.S. war against Iran.
A European diplomat told Politico the reported list appears to be an extension of an idea Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth floated in December, when he told a defense forum that “model allies” will receive the “special favor” of the U.S. and nations “that still fail to do their part for collective defense will face consequences.”
“The White House has a naughty and nice paper so I guess the
thinking is similar,” the diplomat said.
Hegseth has used the “model ally” language in meetings with NATO members, another diplomat told the outlet. The list was reportedly prepared in advance of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s visit to Washington earlier this month.
The Independent has contacted the White House, the Pentagon,
and NATO for comment.
The reported list could prompt the U.S. to take adverse actions against alliance members, which could range from moving U.S. troops to blocking sales of American defense tech to allied nations, though observers told Politico these moves might end up harming the U.S. more than the countries it is allegedly seeking to punish.
And in related news, does anyone remember Greenland?
An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The policy options are detailed in a note prepared by
Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's top policy adviser, who expressed frustration at
some allies' perceived reluctance or refusal to grant the United States access,
basing and overflight rights - known as ABO - for the Iran war, said the official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the email.
Colby wrote that ABO is "just the absolute baseline for
NATO," according to the official, who added that the options were
circulating at high levels in the Pentagon.
One option in the email envisions suspending
"difficult" countries from important or prestigious positions at
NATO, the official said.
President Donald Trump has harshly criticized NATO allies
for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which was
closed to global shipping following the start of the air war on February 28.
He has also declared he is considering withdrawing from the
alliance.
Indications are, though, that President Trump does not views the Falkland Islands, which justifably belong to Great Britain, as similar to Greenland, Venezuela, or Cuba. Rather, it appears that he mostly wants to turn the territory over to Argentina and its Trump-loving "anarcho capitalist", Javier "The Rug" Milei, who is anxious to gain control over the Falklands.
It's difficult to nail down definitively Donald Trump's longstanding desire to emasculate and eventually wipe out NATO. It could be his allegiance to Vladimir Putin or a fear that a powerful, united Europe would interfere with his unilateralist foreign policy. Or it could be simply that, as an apostle of the zero-sum game, Donald believes that anything which hurts Europe helps him. Whatever it is, President Trump realizes he won't be President or alive forever.. And as he leaves, he would have the satisfaction of knowing that he has destroyed so much in his wake.
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