Hegseth attacks NATO
https://apnews.com/article/nato-trump-hegseth-forces-europe-security-3a550c72f0470de26b619d22b17935b6Pentagon chief lashes out at NATO allies and announces a review of US forces in Europe
By LORNE COOK
Updated 3:50 AM CDT, June 18, 2026
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“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” he told his NATO counterparts in Brussels.
Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”
Taking the microphone at the top of the meeting, Hegseth also railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.
“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered. Along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth’s comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.
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shit. 
…what this is really about: that terrible, awful European social-democratic domestic spending! This is the crap we hear daily from Maria Bartiromo, the WSJ op-ed page, et al—the “investing class”. Or as GW Bush put it, the “ownership society”: society ruled by the owners. These are the people who whine that someone, somewhere is getting a single dime they don’t “deserve”.
Of course, the reason these social programs are aimed at both the poor and the middle classes in Europe is to make them much harder to take away—by building politically powerful constituencies in their favor. This also produces strong societies: “Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization”, as Kegsbreath so sneeringly puts it.
Let’s lay it where we should; at this point in history, these people are just asking for it. Kegsbreath might want to open a couple of those history books to rediscover the not-so-pleasant things that happen when the political class abuses its citizens (particularly in Europe). 