The president of the United States, Donald Trump, he mocked from his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macronduring a private lunch on Wednesday, while criticized NATO allies for his refusal to join the war against Iran that shakes the Middle East.
Trump assured that he asked Macron if he could count on his support: “We didn’t really need them, but I still asked.”he said during the private lunch, according to a video posted briefly on the White House YouTube channel before he left.
“I called France, to Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly. “He is still recovering from a blow to the jaw,” Trump said.
The president appeared to be referring to a viral video from May in which Brigitte Macron was seen slapping the French president in the face during a trip to Vietnam. Macron rejected those images as part of a disinformation campaign.
According to Trump, he told the French president: “Emmanuel, we would love to have some help in the Gulf, even though we are breaking records taking out the bad guys and shooting down ballistic missiles. We could use some help. If you could, could you send ships right away?”
The head of the White House imitated a French accent to reproduce Macron’s supposed response: “No, no, no, we can’t do that, Donald. We can do it after the war has been won.”
“And I said, ‘No, no, I don’t need it to be after the war has been won, Emmanuel,’” Trump added.
He also called NATO a “paper tiger,” in a new attack against the transatlantic alliance.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States “will have to reevaluate” its relationship with NATO once the war against Iran ends.
