US President Donald Trump made a jest of the French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife during a private lunch Wednesday, as he lambasted NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran that has roiled the Middle East.
“We didn’t need them, but I asked anyway,” Trump told a private lunch in a video posted briefly on the White House YouTube channel before access was blocked.
“I call up France, Macron—whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw,” Trump said.
He was referring to a May 2025 news video that appeared to show Brigitte Macron shoving the French president’s face during a trip to Vietnam, which Macron later denied as part of a disinformation effort.
“And I said, ‘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 continued.
The US president then mimics a French accent to give Macron’s alleged answer: “No no no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do that after the war is won,’” he said.
“I said, ‘No no, I don’t need it after the war is won, Emmanuel,’” Trump said.
“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,” Trump said, without elaborating.
He also described NATO a “paper tiger,” the latest salvo by Trump and his top officials against the transatlantic alliance since he returned to the White House last year.
