President Donald Trump’s interactions with America’s allies since launching an unprompted war against Iran have been nothing but bullying, cajoling and finally whining about those same allies’ lack of subservience. Iranian attacks on boats traveling within the Strait of Hormuz have prompted the president to ask for aid that will not come while the U.S.-Israeli assaults continue. Instead, European leaders have tried to deter Trump from his destructive path, only to receive nothing but vitriol and spite in return.
There’s something unsettlingly familiar then in watching Trump and his cronies willingly confuse allies’ declarations of boundaries with simple selfishness
With little warning from the U.S. ahead of the attack, and no clear strategy for how this campaign ends, Europe has kept America at arm’s length during these past few weeks. Spain has been the most strident opponent, closing its airspace to American aircraft involved in the war. Italy reportedly refused to let U.S. warplanes land at a base in Sicily. The United Kingdom has turned down requests to take part in any mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz during active hostilities. Even Poland has refused to transfer Patriot air defense batteries to the Gulf, a snub that would have been unthinkable in the past.
The backlash from the Trump administration has been as swift as it is petulant, with the president lashing out in multiple Truth Social posts. His Cabinet fawningly followed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mocked the refusal of the “big bad Royal Navy” to join the operation in his press conference Tuesday morning. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the country’s chief diplomat, was similarly disparaging in a Monday interview with Al Jazeera:
We have countries like Spain, a NATO member, that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace and bragging about it. Denying us the use of their bases. And there are other countries that have done that as well. And so you ask yourself, ‘Well, what is in it for the United States?’”
Rubio knows full well that NATO is a defensive alliance, under which members come to each other’s aid in the aftermath of an attack. In its 76-year existence, NATO has only invoked Article V of its Charter once — in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. Rather than make that point to his boss, Rubio opted for the path of least resistance and feigning ignorance of his own portfolio.
At some level, international relations and diplomacy are high-level extensions of human interactions and relationships. There’s something unsettlingly familiar then in watching Trump and his cronies willingly confuse allies’ declarations of boundaries with simple selfishness. For this White House, being told no is cause for attack, not self-reflection. Likewise, even the merest doubt of the most ill-founded idea is somehow painted as being toxic behavior.
Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He focuses on politics and policymaking at the federal level, including Congress and the White House.
