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Inside the Trump White House’s Growing Resentment Toward Europe

 

The recent leak of a White House Signal group chat was more than just an intelligence blunder—it revealed a deeper frustration within Donald Trump’s administration about what officials see as Europe’s chronic dependency on American military power.

 

A stunning moment in the chat occurred when Vice President JD Vance hesitated as his colleagues, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, debated striking Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Vance, messaging from an economics event in Michigan, voiced his reservations. “I think we are making a mistake,” he wrote. He pointed out that while only 3% of U.S. trade flows through the Suez Canal, Europe relies on it for 40% of its trade. He worried that the American public might not grasp the necessity of the strikes and questioned whether the president realized how inconsistent this was with his stance on Europe. Vance suggested waiting a month before moving forward.

 

 

His resistance, however, was quickly countered by his colleagues, who reassured him while simultaneously taking aim at transatlantic allies. Hegseth, without hesitation, agreed with Vance’s underlying skepticism of Europe, writing, “I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reinforced the point, stating, “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return.” In the end, Vance fell in line with the majority, but not before making his frustration clear. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” he said.

 

 

While the conversation shocked European officials, the underlying sentiment is nothing new. U.S. frustration with Europe’s defense spending has been a bipartisan issue for decades. As far back as the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy called out European allies for failing to meet their obligations. In 2011, Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, warned that NATO’s future was bleak unless its members increased their military spending. Both Trump and Joe Biden have continued to press the issue. Even before last year’s presidential election, British and European defense experts had anticipated that if Kamala Harris won, she too would echo similar frustrations, though in a more diplomatic manner.

 

 

Trump has gone further than his predecessors, even threatening to withhold military aid from NATO members who fail to meet their financial commitments. That pressure has led to some European nations ramping up their defense budgets. Yet within Trump’s circle, Vance’s resentment toward Europe appears to go beyond just military spending. He sees European leaders not just as freeloaders but as an elite class disconnected from American values. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in February, he stunned European officials with his scathing remarks: “If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you—nor for that matter is there anything that you can do for the American people who elected me and elected President Trump.”

 

Vance’s worldview has been shaped over years alongside a group of like-minded advisors, many of whom, like him, are veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They returned home disillusioned with American interventionism and now occupy key positions in the administration. In the leaked Signal chat, two names stood out: Andy Baker, a former foreign service officer and Vance’s national security adviser, and Dan Caldwell, an Iraq War veteran with ties to both Hegseth and Vance. Caldwell has been a leading advocate for a doctrine of “restraint,” which rejects both Reagan-era peace-through-strength policies and Obama-style global engagement.

 

This hardline stance has alienated even some of Trump’s natural allies. Nigel Farage, a longtime Trump supporter, was particularly angered when Vance seemed to dismiss Britain as a “random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” Although Vance later denied the comment, Farage was blunt in his assessment. “I was angry about that,” he said. “The Republican party as a whole is—well, it’s America first. I mean, that’s what they feel, and that’s what they believe, and they think Europe’s been taking the mickey out of it for 60 years.”

 

However, Farage noted that Vance’s background might make him even less sympathetic to Europe than Trump himself. “I’ve never known JD to be anti-British,” he said, “but he is less pro-British than Donald Trump.”

 

This growing rift between the U.S. and its European allies raises questions about the future of transatlantic relations. If Trump’s administration views Europe as an unreliable partner, the continent may have to prepare for a future where American military and economic support is no longer a guarantee.

 

Based on a report by The Telegraph  2025-03-27

 

 

Trump.

I disagree it shows the maggas disaffection towards the Europeans they are the ones attacking our allies.

My experience of the europeans of this forum since before the election to now has been enlightening to say the least. Europe deserves everything it has coming to it

They hate Europe. 

They hate Canada.

But they love Russia.

Something is very rotten in this white house.

26 minutes ago, Social Media said:

"While the conversation shocked European officials,"

But did it really? I suspect they are aware of the disdain Murikkkans hold towards anyone not a White Christian Nationalist.

I can tell you Europe is finished. Leave EU if you can. If Republican election again after Trump USA will rule again until China can take it. Europe is over.

UK, France already gone now

 

 

5 minutes ago, Skunkfarben said:

I can tell you Europe is finished. Leave EU if you can. If Republican election again after Trump USA will rule again until China can take it. Europe is over.

UK, France already gone now

 

 

What does the U.S. want to "rule" over the now? The coalition of autocrats? Voting now with North Korea. These are very dark times.

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

What does the U.S. want to "rule" over the now? The coalition of autocrats? Voting now with North Korea. These are very dark times.

 

I don't think USA want to rule anything but themself. I would like to live there. All my friend in EU and Thailand same but we cannot afford Florida houses any more

 

UK France, Germany most Europe is finished. EU can not manage budget, social welfare. Immigrants do not integration

Good to see that the white house is aware what incompetent grifters the EU are. 

 

Hopefully this is reflected in future dealings with them.

2 minutes ago, Skunkfarben said:

 

I don't think USA want to rule anything but themself. I would like to live there. All my friend in EU and Thailand same but we cannot afford Florida houses any more

 

UK France, Germany most Europe is finished. EU can not manage budget, social welfare. Immigrants do not integration

Maybe you could sneak in.

 

Let us know how it goes

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

Maybe you could sneak in.

 

Let us know how it goes

 That is the problem now Mr Higgins

40 minutes ago, hotsun said:

My experience of the europeans of this forum since before the election to now has been enlightening to say the least. Europe deserves everything it has coming to it

 

... you mean reactions to the sphincterborn bs you're posting on here day in day out?!

 

GFY, wankee!

 

4 minutes ago, jollyhangmon said:

 

... you mean reactions to the sphincterborn bs you're posting on here day in day out?!

 

GFY, wankee!

 

Europe is no different than kids. The more money you give them, the less they like you

No problems - the way Trump is going the USA will soon have a handful of friends - Israel, North Korean, Russia, and a few others.  China will be by itself (largely), and most other countries and the global population will be anti-USA.

1 hour ago, Social Media said:

He sees European leaders not just as freeloaders but as an elite class disconnected from American values.

Hello pot, kettle calling!

27 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Europe is no different than kids. The more money you give them, the less they like you

 

Sounds a lot like immigrants. 

Yeah, everybody should have access to Pete H. and the Pentagon.

Good that we have now their mobile numbers, email accounts and passwords.

Easy to communicate and ask for the plans for next wars to come👍 

David French: I’m a columnist at The New York Times, and I’m a former JAG officer, an Army lawyer. Earlier this week, we found out that Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, received an invitation from the national security adviser, Michael Waltz, to join a Signal group chat.

 

Audio clip of Jeffrey Goldberg: He was texting attack plans, when targets were going to be targeted, how they were going to be targeted, who was at the targets, when the next sequence of attacks were happening.

 

This is an absolutely stunning breach of security. I’ve helped investigate numerous allegations of classified information spillages, and I’ve never heard of anything this egregious. This is extraordinary.

 

There are so many ways in which sharing war plans is among the most egregious forms of security breach. It’s hard to think of a form of security breach that is worse than this. But aside from that, there is now public insight into conversations that were meant to be private.

 

You have the vice president questioning the judgment of the president. You have the vice president laying into our allies. I know that’s something that they do publicly, as well, but there’s a difference between public communication and private communication. The private communication was never intended for the allies. So all of these things are damaging diplomatically. They’re damaging politically. They’re damaging militarily, and in the worst scenario, they could be catastrophically dangerous for American lives.

 

It should be obvious to people that sharing plans for an attack hours before the attack could create problems, but let’s get a little bit more specific: The Houthis could move some of their weapons away from targeted locations. They could move senior officials away from targeted locations so that the strikes are less effective. They could choose to, for example, launch missiles themselves to attack before they are attacked, an action that could be incredibly costly in lives and in ships. They could move their senior leaders.

 

The administration is saying now that there was nothing classified in the chat and they weren’t really war plans, in many ways, casting aspersions on Goldberg’s integrity. In fact, when Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, was confronted with these facts, he attacked Goldberg and did not acknowledge his own wrongdoing. But there is not an officer alive whose career would survive a security breach like this.

 

From the very first weeks that you’re a member of the military, you start learning about operational security. This is drilled into officers. And those consequences would be instant relief from command.

 

I have seen this with my own eyes. I have been a part of this process. You would have a relief from command followed by a comprehensive investigation, and potentially criminal charges. In the military, you would be advising an officer to seek counsel, to get a lawyer instantly, because the criminal investigation would be equally instant.

 

In the civilian context, and Pete Hegseth is a civilian, there should be an immediate Department of Justice investigation into how this happened. Why were they using the Signal app, which the Pentagon has warned members of the military against using for Department of Defense business? Who was on the chat? Were they posting in it directly? Were they posting through subordinates? How often is sensitive business being conducted on Signal?

 

There are so many questions that arise that the Department of Justice should be answering.

 

And I mentioned criminal charges — federal law makes it a crime when a person, through gross negligence, removes information relating to the national defense from its proper place of custody and it is delivered to anyone in violation of trust or is lost, stolen, abstracted or destroyed. It’s way too soon to say whether Hegseth’s incompetence is also criminal, but I raise the possibility to demonstrate the sheer magnitude of the mistake, a security breach this significant requires thorough investigation. I can assure you that a Signal chat is not the right place to share sensitive information about upcoming American strikes.

 

The White House’s spin is laughable. It’s weak. They have claimed that there were no actual war plans shared.

 

The stakes are, what are we doing to the very culture of the United States military? Are we telling it that the days of professionalism are over and the days for political loyalty have begun?

1 hour ago, JimHuaHin said:

No problems - the way Trump is going the USA will soon have a handful of friends - Israel, North Korean, Russia, and a few others.  China will be by itself (largely), and most other countries and the global population will be anti-USA.

The spectacularly ignorant level of isolationism that Trump is engaging in is going to have long-term ramifications for America. He could be setting the nation back decades and there's no doubt that he's dramatically precipitating the decline that America was already experiencing over the past few decades.

 

The man is a completely unhinged, insane, very unstable and he's very, very poorly informed and advised. Woe is the US. 

 

 

2 hours ago, hotsun said:

My experience of the europeans of this forum since before the election to now has been enlightening to say the least. Europe deserves everything it has coming to it

Europe doesn't need the USA, fight your wars alone and shut your army bases down there.

It seems odd to me that what was "leaked" is a mature adult conversation that raises some serious foreign policy questions, is extremely strategical in nature, shows a distinct lack of simply agreeing with the boss, in fact shows a demonstrated willingness to challenge the agenda.

 

If you wanted to send a clear and decisive message to the Europeans about what the inner thoughts of the US cabinet really are towards their allies, while showing the voters that you have their back both from a military and geo-political perspective, well....if I was a strategist I would have recommended this method.

 

An age-old negotiation trick is to surreptitiously drop a truth bomb into your opponent's lap while smiling pleasantly to their face and raising your pinky while enjoying tea and crumpets with them.

 

Maybe Trump read Clavell's Shogun and is doing a Toranaga style palace intrigue on them all. 

1. Immediately pull all troops and assets out of all of Europe except Poland.

2. Immediately impose additional tariffs to compensate American for Europes insane war on our technology.

3. Allow them to buy our weapons, cash on the barrel head.

4. Sanction any beauracrat that deprives suffering Europeans of free speech.

5. Issue travel warnings for Paris, London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Brussels, Antwerp, etc because of Muslim crime and terrorism.

6. Withdraw from the UN and kick them out.

 

I think Trump is wrong by not doing all of the foregoing.

7 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

It seems odd to me that what was "leaked" is a mature adult conversation that raises some serious foreign policy questions, is extremely strategical in nature, shows a distinct lack of simply agreeing with the boss, in fact shows a demonstrated willingness to challenge the agenda.

 

If you wanted to send a clear and decisive message to the Europeans about what the inner thoughts of the US cabinet really are towards their allies, while showing the voters that you have their back both from a military and geo-political perspective, well....if I was a strategist I would have recommended this method.

 

An age-old negotiation trick is to surreptitiously drop a truth bomb into your opponent's lap while smiling pleasantly to their face and raising your pinky while enjoying tea and crumpets with them.

 

Maybe Trump read Clavell's Shogun and is doing a Toranaga style palace intrigue on them all. 

Thats assuming that the addition of the known liar and operative Goldberg was not criminal and was deliberate. Isnt it "odd" that a scum like him was included?

 

Im betting criminal, although your scenario is extremely possible. Thanks for demonstrating some folks still know how to think as opposed to just spittlespew.

8 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Thats assuming that the addition of the known liar and operative Goldberg was not criminal and was deliberate. Isnt it "odd" that a scum like him was included?

 

Im betting criminal, although your scenario is extremely possible. Thanks for demonstrating some folks still know how to think as opposed to just spittlespew.

 

I'll add to the intrigue. Discover the nefarious addition of Goldberg in the app, deliver the truth bomb using Goldberg as the useful idiot, and then claim criminal interference for the release of the information. Smoke and mirrors - works for me, especially as nobody has been made to fall on their sword over it. 

Just now, Gsxrnz said:

 

I'll add to the intrigue. Discover the nefarious addition of Goldberg in the app, deliver the truth bomb using Goldberg as the useful idiot, and then claim criminal interference for the release of the information. Smoke and mirrors - works for me, especially as nobody has been made to fall on their sword over it. 

Nice concept.

 

1. Message to Vlad

2. Message to Europe

3. Payback to Unpardoned scum.

I agree with the Republicans. Europeans should build their own weapons and stop buying from the U.S. Put the American military industrial complex out of business. 

 

1 hour ago, Gsxrnz said:

It seems odd to me that what was "leaked" is a mature adult conversation that raises some serious foreign policy questions, is extremely strategical in nature, shows a distinct lack of simply agreeing with the boss, in fact shows a demonstrated willingness to challenge the agenda.

 

If you wanted to send a clear and decisive message to the Europeans about what the inner thoughts of the US cabinet really are towards their allies, while showing the voters that you have their back both from a military and geo-political perspective, well....if I was a strategist I would have recommended this method.

 

An age-old negotiation trick is to surreptitiously drop a truth bomb into your opponent's lap while smiling pleasantly to their face and raising your pinky while enjoying tea and crumpets with them.

 

Maybe Trump read Clavell's Shogun and is doing a Toranaga style palace intrigue on them all. 

Ye p -I think the White House deliberately added the journalist to that Signal group....

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

They hate Europe. 

They hate Canada.

But they love Russia.

Something is very rotten in this white house.

Being an American... And looking at how the EU are turning their country inside out and allowing wokeism to control every aspect of living as well as their constant immigration problem. Also, seeing as how this is being controlled in Russia with Putin putting his foot down on wokeism and same sex relations as well as controlling illegal immigration problems. I would prefer to befriend Russia. Europe has changed a lot in their politics and look at their leaders... In every story and post about these problems their citizens are getting screwed over by them. 

I am by no means saying i trust Russia or Putin or want them for allies. But, your comment "love Russia" is very wrong. I think they love how Russia running their own country. Not meaning with the war situation. But in daily living. 

A lot of noise about not very much. EU elitists should recognize that the USA has done more than it's fair share of heavy lifting over the years. The EU never will of course, their self-importance dominates their thinking on all issues.