Britain bled for America after 9/11 - but Trump still calls us NATO freeloaders

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Once again, NATO's warning sirens are blaring but this time they're being sounded not just by a hawkish US defence secretary, but by Donald Trump's hand-picked megaphone.
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News fixture turned Pentagon mouthpiece, has marched into Brussels and told Europe to get its act together. His demand? NATO allies must ramp up defence spending to five per cent of GDP or risk losing American support. It's a steep ask, but let's be honest: this isn't coming from Hegseth alone.
He's simply parroting the orders of his puppetmaster back in Washington. Trump has spent years bellyaching that Europe doesn't pull its weight, pushing the fiction that the United States carries the whole NATO alliance like a single parent doing all the chores. Hegseth is now trying to turn that narrative into policy.
Never mind that the only time NATO's mutual defence clause, Article 5, has ever been invoked was to defend the United States. After the horrors of 9/11, it was Britain, France, Canada and others who answered the call and bled alongside American forces in Afghanistan. We didn't hesitate. We didn't quibble. We showed up.
But Trump? He recently claimed he doesn't believe NATO allies would come to America's defence if the roles were reversed. It wasn't just insulting, it was revisionist nonsense. Trump has never let the facts get in the way of a good rant.
And now, with his second term, he's dusted off the old playbook: threatened the allies, demanded more cash, and wrapped it all in a red-white-and-blue flag of grievance.
Hegseth, speaking ahead of a NATO defence ministers meeting, didn't bother with diplomacy. 'The commitment is there. Five per cent on defence spending,' he said. 'We don't need more flags. We need more fighting formations… hard power.' In other words, stop talking and start paying up or else.
NATO's new Secretary-General, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, echoed the urgency. He made it plain: sticking to the current two per cent spending target won't cut it anymore.
'Forget it,' he said bluntly. In the face of Russia's aggression, he added, Europe must 'equalise' with the US.
And what of Britain? We're currently hovering at just over two per cent - enough to technically meet the old NATO target, but nowhere near the five per cent being floated now. Downing Street is under pressure to lift that figure to 3.5 per cent to avoid falling out with the Trump White House.
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to raise defence spending to three per cent when economic conditions allow, which, for those in the States, has been taken as political code for 'don't hold your breath.' Meanwhile, NATO wants to have 300,000 troops ready to deploy to the eastern flank within 30 days. Experts say we're nowhere close. Russia isn't waiting around, and if we don't catch up, we'll be caught out.
Let's not kid ourselves. These new capability targets aren't just about tanks and missiles, they're about logistics, transport, refuelling, and the infrastructure needed to move large armies quickly. All of it costs serious money.
The uncomfortable truth is this: for too long, Britain and Europe have been skating by on goodwill, political promises, and Washington's indulgence. That indulgence may soon run dry, and we'll only have ourselves to blame.
It's time to stop playing catch-up, stop relying on American muscle, and start taking responsibility for our own defence.
If we want to remain a serious player on the world stage, we need to start acting like one before Trump throws his NATO dummy out of the pram once and for all.