Report: The Plan Being Considered to Punish Those Feckless NATO Allies

President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday.

One of the big items on the agenda was the U.S. anger at the failure of some of the NATO allies to be supportive of American requests regarding things like the use of bases or airspace during Operation Epic Fury. Despite all that we have done for them, you have countries like France denying us that while we were dealing with a terrorist regime.

While the exact nature of the discussion between Trump and Rutte hasn't been revealed, Rutte called it "a very frank, very open discussion, but it was also a discussion between two good friends."

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte describes his meeting w/ President Trump today on @CNN as “a very frank, very open discussion, but it was also a discussion between two good friends.”

Says Trump “is clearly disappointed” with NATO allies.
— Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) April 8, 2026

Rutte said that Trump was "clearly disappointed" with the NATO allies.

In an appearance on CNN, Rutte dropped more hints about the discussion, supporting Trump and admitting that, yes, some of the allies "failed," but others got the importance of what was being done.

🚨 BREAKING: NATO SecGen Mark Rutte STUNS THE WORLD, comes out in SUPPORT of President Trump flaming our allies for abandoning the US during Operation Epic Fury

This comes after Rutte met 47 at the White House

RUTTE: "Some of them [failed]!" 🔥

"[Iran] would lead to a North… pic.twitter.com/7pjlbm8nJQ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 8, 2026

He was obviously trying to sell the worth of those nations that have been more supportive and didn't fail us.

That matches with a new report about what the Trump team may be planning for the feckless ones.

Trump is considering punishing some NATO members for not supporting U.S. efforts in Iran, The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported. One option involves moving some U.S. bases to countries deemed more helpful during the conflict. Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Greece are countries that could stand to gain U.S. troops, U.S. officials told the newspaper. Besides relocations, the plan also could target a U.S. base in at least one European country, possibly Spain or Germany, for closure, officials said.

Spain has been the worst, not only not being supportive but also with its leader actively speaking out against the U.S. action. They are also refusing to support a new NATO plan calling for defense spending of 5 percent of gross domestic product. Why don't they want to pony up what everyone else is now doing (thanks to Trump) to defend themselves? They want to prop up their welfare state, and that might put a dent in it.

Moving a U.S. base would likely hit that country economically, as well as not having it there for protection.

There may be other plans in the works as well.

The plan is in its early stages but is supported by some top Trump officials, with the administration also considering a range of other options to punish allies, according to the newspaper report.

Obviously, there are a lot of considerations to consider, including costs and strategic locations.

But we also need to ensure that "allies" is a two-way street — that they are there when we need them, just as we have been there for them, saving their bacon for decades.

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