US President Donald Trump made fun of the French president and his wife as he lambasted NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran.
Speaking during a private lunch Wednesday, April 1, Trump said: “We didn’t need them, but I asked anyway.”
“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 on a trip to Vietnam, which Macron later rejected as part of a disinformation campaign.
“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.
He 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 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 branded 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.
The video was posted briefly on the White House YouTube channel before access was blocked.
On Tuesday, March 31, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “is going to have to reexamine” its relationship with NATO once the war against Iran has concluded.
See video below.
Trump mocks Macron again:
I called up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly and he’s still recovering from the right to the jaw. pic.twitter.com/bEJgfKaVRg
— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 1, 2026