President Donald Trump said NATO officials call him "Daddy" after he successfully forced European nations to contribute more money to the alliance, arguing his blunt approach has pushed allies to start paying their fair share.
"NATO calls me Daddy," Trump told Politico in a wide-ranging White House interview conducted Monday, as he described his view that Europe has leaned too heavily on American muscle for decades.
Trump said he "raised" NATO contributions "from 2% to 5%," and insisted allies are paying more because the U.S. demanded it.
NATO has long used a benchmark of 2% of GDP for defense spending, and alliance data and reporting in recent years have tracked rising compliance as Russia's war in Ukraine reshaped Europe's security posture, according to Defense News.
Trump also suggested his influence extends beyond budgets to politics, though he framed it as support for like-minded leaders rather than an attempt to "run Europe."
Asked whether he might endorse candidates in European elections, Trump replied that he has endorsed foreign leaders before, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Argentina's Javier Milei.
"I endorsed [Milei], and he won in a landslide," he said.
Reuters has reported Trump publicly voicing support for Milei's reelection prospects in comments carried by multiple outlets.
But the centerpiece of Trump's critique of Europe was immigration.
He told Politico's Dasha Burns that Europe is "being destroyed" by what he called unchecked migration and political correctness, warning that if current trends continue, some European countries "will not be viable countries any longer."
He singled out Paris and London as "much different" places than they once were and argued Europe's leaders "don't know what to do," claiming mass migration makes nations "much weaker" and changes their "ideology."
Trump repeatedly pointed to Sweden as a cautionary tale, saying it went from being among the safest countries to "pretty unsafe," and he praised Hungary and Poland for stricter border policies.
In Sweden, the government has recently pursued tougher measures aimed at gang crime and immigration-related enforcement, including proposals tied to citizenship and criminality — moves that reflect the broader European debate Trump highlighted.
For Trump, the argument is simple: a stronger, self-reliant Europe is better for the West and for the U.S. taxpayer.
"All I want to see is a strong Europe," he told Politico, adding that European leaders should be "freaked out" not by him, but by what he says they are doing to their own countries.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this report.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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