Hegseth, Vance Call Out Europe’s “Pathetic” Free-Loading
After decades of refusing to defend themselves, America has finally had enough.
Anthony Constantini
March 29, 2025
_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
This week’s leaked Signal chats revealed that top Trump administration figures say the same things about Europe privately that they are saying publicly: they’ve had enough of Europe taking advantage of the USA. Vice President JD Vance said he loathed the idea of “bailing out Europe again,” a phrase with which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth agreed, writing, “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's pathetic."
Europeans, who mostly do not see themselves as freeloaders, have been slow to grasp how angry the Trump administration is becoming with their lack of defense spending, and as a result, have been slow to make the necessary reforms to take on the extra cost.