Yes, I think they have taken a free ride, says Trump at a press conference.
The comment was a response to a question about something Defense Minister Pete Hegseth was supposed to have said in a chat on the messaging app Signal, which a journalist at The Atlantic magazine was accidentally invited to.
In the chat – which dealt with the then impending US attack on the Houthi movement in Yemen – someone identifying themselves as Vice President JD Vance wrote that he was skeptical of the attacks because he didn't want to "rescue Europe again". Hegseth responded by saying he shared Vance's "loathing" of Europeans taking a "free ride": "It's PATHETIC".
The reasoning is based on the fact that Americans believe that European countries are more affected by the Houthi movement's attacks on shipping than the US is.
Both Vance and Hegseth have been to Europe and delivered fairly tough and provocative messages. This is an extra level that shows such unrestrained contempt for Europe, says Björn Fägersten, senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute, to Dagens Nyheter about the outbursts.
