The Daily Populous Tuesday February 3rd, 2026 morning edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by nbcnews

Taking long pauses as he spoke and appearing to rein in his frustration, Little responded to Trump’s comments that cast doubt on whether NATO allies would be there for America “if we ever needed them.”

“When I was hit, I was so far in front of the front line that I couldn’t see the front line in my rearview mirror,” he said.

Trump’s assertions about NATO forces not coming to the United States’ defense are incorrect: More than 1,000 NATO troops from over 25 countries, including 457 British service personnel, died in Afghanistan. Double that number were seriously wounded. Around 2,400 U.S. service members died in the conflict between 2001 and 2021.

The war, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., remains the only time that the alliance’s collective defense clause, known as Article 5, has been invoked.

After stoking outrage among Britons ranging from Prince Harry to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump sought to backtrack.

Trump praised British troops as “among the greatest of all warriors” in a post on Truth Social, while stopping short of an apology.

For Little, who now works as an actor while serving as an ambassador for a veterans welfare group, Trump’s comments sparked an initial surge of anger before he forced himself to calm down. But the president’s appraisal of British troops, without mentioning the dozens of other nations who lost soldiers during the conflict, was “not an apology,” he said.

“I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Estonians. I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Danish,” he said, sitting in a vape shop and cafe, in a corner of the room dedicated to veterans. “These are people that I’ve served with on the ground, including the Americans and the Canadians.”

FingalForever on February 2nd, 2026 at 18:37 UTC »

Meanwhile, on 31 January 10,000 people joined a Danish veterans silent march to the US embassy, aghast at what Americans think of their allies as expressed by their president…

https://www.dw.com/en/denmark-thousands-take-part-in-veteran-anti-trump-protest/a-75742882

Bullboah on February 2nd, 2026 at 16:34 UTC »

Multiple things are true here at once imo.

-A few NATO countries (especially the UK and Denmark) had significant operational roles in GWOT, and incurred high casualties relative to their size.

-Most coalition countries sent smaller detachments and were not doing much from an operational perspective - it was more symbolic support.

-Even those countries still lost soldiers KIA, because of IEDs and attacks on bases.

-Trump’s comments are incredibly stupid diplomatically, and obviously extremely offensive to other NATO countries especially those like the UK and Denmark.

-Speaking broadly there are definitely NATO members who have chosen to free-ride and don’t contribute much to the alliance, but there are also great consistent partners. The countries facing the worst of Trump’s aggression have been some of the best partners (like Denmark).

nbcnews on February 2nd, 2026 at 16:14 UTC »

Trump’s assertions about NATO forces not coming to the United States’ defense are incorrect: More than 1,000 NATO troops from over 25 countries, including 457 British service personnel, died in Afghanistan. Double that number were seriously wounded. Around 2,400 U.S. service members died in the conflict between 2001 and 2021.

The war, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., remains the only time that the alliance’s collective defense clause, known as Article 5, has been invoked.