Trump Mocks Macron, Slams NATO Over Iran War Support

During a private lunch on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump ridiculed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife while criticizing NATO allies for refusing to join the US-led war against Iran that’s destabilizing the Middle East.

In a video briefly posted on the White House YouTube channel before being restricted, Trump said: “We didn’t need them, but I asked anyway.” He added, “I call up France, Macron — whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw.”

Trump referenced a May 2025 video from a Vietnam trip that seemed to show Brigitte Macron shoving her husband’s face, which the French leader dismissed as disinformation.

He recounted his alleged call to Macron: “‘Emmanuel, we’d love to have some help in the Gulf even though we’re setting records on knocking out bad people and knocking out ballistic missiles. We’d love to have some help. If you could, could you please send ships immediately.’”

Trump then imitated a French accent for Macron’s supposed reply: “‘No no no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do that after the war is won.’” Trump shot back, “No no, I don’t need after the war is won, Emmanuel.”

The remarks underscore Trump’s growing frustration with NATO. “So I learned about NATO — NATO won’t be there if we ever have the big one, you know what I mean by the big one,” he said, without specifics. He called the alliance a “paper tiger.”

This follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Tuesday statement that the US will “reexamine” its NATO ties after the Iran conflict ends.