Trump: "We don't need anybody. I'm doing it because I want to find out how they react."

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/16/world/iran-war-trump-oil-lebanon

Trump Disparages Allies for Rebuffing His Requests for Military Assistance

President Trump on Monday disparaged U.S. allies that he said had relied too long — and too expensively — on American defense, as several of those countries have declined to meet his call to send warships to escort merchant vessels in and out of the Persian Gulf.

“We don’t need anybody; we’re the strongest nation in the world,” Mr. Trump said. He suggested his request for assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz instead amounted to a loyalty test of America’s allies. “I’m almost doing it in some cases not because we need them but because I want to find out how they react,” he said.

Referring to countries that have rebuffed, or reacted coolly, to his appeal for ships, Mr. Trump said he had long believed that “if we ever needed help, they won’t be there for us,” and they were proving his point. He added, “You mean for 40 years we’re protecting you and you don’t want to get involved in something that’s very minor?” noting that Europe, Japan and others depend on oil from the Persian Gulf far more than the United States does.

Even so, Mr. Trump said that “numerous countries have told me that they’re on the way.” But asked to name them, he replied, “I’d rather not say yet, but we’ll be announcing them.”

...

[leftstreet]

1. LOL he can't spin his way out of this

He fucked up, there's no exit ramp for him

[wnylib]

14. Other nations are not falling for his gaslighting.

[GoCubsGo]

42. They're also refusing to bail him out of a massive fuck-up of his own doing.

Which is what this is really about. He, being a goddamn moron, created a huge mess, and he wants everyone else to clean it up for him. Nobody's willing to do so, and now he's pouting about it, like the insolent manbaby that he is.

[RockRaven]

2. "Well I didn't want you to come to my party anyway!"

Yeah, sure, Dotard.

[dalton99a]

4. +1

[Blue Owl]

3. Fat fuck's pea-brained loyalty test

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

5. He sounds foolish

[Deuxcents]

12. He *is* foolish. Among other things

[luvallpeeps]

6. Behold the mastermind at work!

It’s merely a loyalty test. He’s got this ya’ll. Relax.🫣

[2naSalit]

7. WOW!

Just fucking WOW!

[livetohike]

8. He loves the sound of his own voice and everyone

just lets him ramble on and on and on. He’s tying himself in knots over this war.

[0rganism]

9. So now we're doing "haha, made you look!"? Wow, that's mature behavior for a 6-year-old. How old are you again?

Pretty weak sauce, really. Most people outgrow it before puberty.

[Srkdqltr]

10. Ok. If other countries send warships, and escort tankers, how does that stop Iran from bombing 💣 all of them?

Which will leave a mess that blocks the whole waterway?

How is this good for anyone. It isn't good. It's all stupid.

[Totally Tunsie]

11. Wouldn't it have been easier just to send them all over-sized Florsheims?

[MustLoveBeagles]

13. Neener, neener

SMDH.

[Jim__]

15. "I'd rather not say yet, but we'll be announcing them." - Probably in 2 weeks. You know along with his health care plan

[wnylib]

16. He's discovering that it's not enough to just have control

of the world's most powerful military and weapons. You also have to have the brains to know how to use them and when and where to deploy them. Also how to to cultivate allies.

[Emile]

17. He never explained the reason for the war

and now expects everyone to back it. The guy is a fucking idiot!

[Old Crank]

18. The omly thing that comes out of anyone's mouth

From this administration is fecal matter.

[Harker]

19. The blithering idiot who cried wolf.

[Rob H.]

20. "(Y)ou don't want to get involved in something that's very minor?"

What kind of bubble have they surrounded him in that he thinks what's going on is "minor"?

[CarolinaNC]

21. how can anyone take him seriously! Such a moron!

[Skittles]

22. can't we have ONE DAY

where that bloated fascist fuck isn't embarrassing America

[dalton99a]

38. +1

[Kingofalldems]

23. The biggest liar in the history of mankind.

[ecstatic]

24. I still don't understand why people (allegedly) elected a child bully

This article reads like something from The Onion. It's sooooo bad that I have to revisit the election.

Did we really elect this guy?

Are my fellow Americans really this stupid?

[Katinfl]

27. Yes, I am afraid your fellow Americans are really that stupid. And we are all paying the price for their stupidity.

[MustLoveBeagles]

32. Yes

[Buddyzbuddy]

25. If we were the strongest, we aren't anymore or soon won't be

since he's been in charge.

[Klarkashton]

26. Passive aggressive bullshit

Trump always does this shit when he's been caught.

[FakeNoose]

28. "Allies"? ... he thinks we have "allies" ? ...

Chump doesn't know HOW to be an Ally ... and he has burned every one we've ever had since World War II.

[LilElf70]

29. "I'd rather not say yet, but we'll be announcing them."?

I can see it now. A picture of the wicked witch of the west, with the caption "All in good time my pretty..... All in good time".

Yet another diversion. It's sickening.

[City Lights]

30. Hey, Full Diaper! Why isn't the Strait open if "we don't need anybody?"

What's taking so long, boy?

[SeattleVet]

31. A test for our allies? What 'allies' do we have left, after he took a wrecking ball to our alliances? nt

[D_Master81]

33. 25th NOW!

Holy shit this man is embarrassing this country on a daily basis now. Yeah sure, so this was all some kind of test to see how loyal our allies are? If you don’t need them then prove it. Get the strait open and hold it. No one believes you. Your bluster is as real as that ridiculous spray tan you put on yourself every day.

[BurnDoubt]

34. We're being a little hard on the idiot.

As Sociopathic Psychopath, he doesn’t have the mental capacity to see beyond his own eyelashes. He will NEVER understand why people he routinely disparages and abuses don’t trust him, or feel compelled to put themselves in danger help a nation that is following his deranged leadership.
He REALLY only understands transactionalism, and even then not very well, beyond “what’s in it for me?”

It ALWAYS ends badly.
Our job going forward is to see they are held accountable.
The Fourth Reich may not last a Thousand years, but the damage to Freedom will.

[malaise]

35. Help is on the way

The flotilla😀

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:34dho26mbrfovffervx4622s/bafkreibfsvvetqiqu3iqrepbjsxj3k27tu2bxpclgoz7apbmkcnqzoqtau

[dalton99a]

37. +1

[spanone]

36. Evil.

[Botany]

39. Trump is so empty and needy. He is like some teenager telling a boyfriend or girlfriend that you can't

break up with me because I’m breaking up with you first. Trump was begging for help but he got
responses such as the one from the Defense Minister of Germany; "This is not our war, we have not
started it." And then Trump talks shit that he really didn’t want Germany’s help it really was a test.

[OC375]

40. Leadership

It's the final act before he says "You are making me break the china because you wouldn't help me clean up my mess." Remember, everything is a lawsuit to him, even war, so this is just posturing to say he offered everyone a chance before he opens up and does whatever it is he's intended to do since the onset.

I think he wants a "No" on meaningful coordinated assistance, because then it's just "him", he's the "victim" and justified in a quorum of one of one at that point. Do you really believe he wants other commander-in-chiefs messing things up? Stealing his thunder or his oil? I don't even think he's even really coordinating with Israel in more than the general country to direct fire at.

Trump doesn't share. He leads or he cries and sues.

[ananda]

41. Weelll...if I were a good, decent country...

the last country I'd look to for assistance
would be the USA right now...

our military is so incompetent and compromised,
it's practically worthless.

[PatSeg]

43. Absolutely insane!

Mr. Trump said that “numerous countries have told me that they’re on the way.”

Dear god Donald, they didn't tell you that. You can't just say something and magically make it true.

[Lokee11]

44. Keep telling your Orange self that -

I cannot not tolerate that Orange Fucking Idiot much longer - please cholesterol do your dam job already!!!!!!

[JBTaurus83]

45. He can't process in his pea sized brain

That oil prices are global.

[Rebl2]

46. All he does

is lie. He even lied about who is president yesterday, saying Gavin Newsom is the prez. Then he went on and said he has been talking to, apparently, imaginary presidents.