As we’ve reported, President Donald Trump is less than impressed with some of our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies since we unloaded Operation Fury on the world’s top terrorism sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Britain, Spain, France, Germany, and others have all at various times either denounced America’s efforts to rid the earth of the scourge of the mullahs or refused to provide military assistance.
Trump has been taking notes:
The Trump administration has drawn up a tiered assessment of NATO members, separating allies seen as supportive of the U.S. war against Iran from those that refused, laying the groundwork for a possible reshuffling of troop deployments, joint exercises, and weapons sales.
The framework was shared with European officials ahead of NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's April 8 visit to Washington and signals that President Donald Trump is moving to act on his warnings of consequences for allies he views as free riders.
It sounds a little like Santa’s notebook:
He's making a list
And checking it twice,
Gonna find out
Who's naughty and nice.
EXCLUSIVE: The White House has made something akin to a “naughty and nice” list of NATO countries, as Trump looks for ways to punish allies who didn’t back the Iran war. https://t.co/0hrANkO5hP
— POLITICO (@politico) April 22, 2026
MORE: Report: The Plan Being Considered to Punish Those Feckless NATO Allies
But the list reportedly isn’t just for putting in a drawer somewhere — it could lead to tangible changes in our global military strategy. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth promoted the notion:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth floated the broad idea in December. “Model allies that step up, like Israel, South Korea, Poland, increasingly Germany, the Baltics and others, will receive our special favor,” he said. “Allies that still fail to do their part for collective defense will face consequences.”
The White House has not been shy about voicing its displeasure with some of our fair-weather European friends.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Politico that countries "we protect with thousands of troops have not been there for us throughout Operation Epic Fury," adding that Trump "has made his thoughts on this unfair dynamic clear."
.@PressSec: "We hear a lot of talk from the Europeans. Unfortunately, we don’t see enough action as far as @POTUS is concerned. In his view, he tested NATO, and they failed." pic.twitter.com/01gEc2dPtG
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 22, 2026
What consequences could the U.S. mete out, however? The one most under discussion is the possibility of troop realignment: send more personnel to those that stepped up to the plate and pull back from those that didn’t.
…the Romanians and Poles could end up being some of the biggest beneficiaries, since both remain in the president’s good graces and would welcome more U.S. troops. The Polish government, which is one of NATO biggest defense spenders, already pays almost all of the costs to host the 10,000 American troops stationed there. And Romania’s recently expanded Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base — which the country allowed the U.S. to use for the air war in Iran — has room for more American troops.
[...]
The Defense Department “will prioritize cooperation and engagements with model allies who are doing their part for our collective defense,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “In doing so, we will empower those allies as they step up in the defense of our shared interests while also strengthening incentives for other allies to do their part.”
NATO has not made a good showing here, and for decades, they haven’t lived up to their promises to beef up their defense budgets. Some of their leaders just might be finding lumps of coal in their stockings this Christmas.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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