President Donald Trump continues to bash NATO after meeting behind closed doors with Secretary-General Mark Rutte, further signaling that the alliance could be crumbling.

Trump has long been critical of NATO, claiming that allies routinely fail to pull their own weight. This sentiment has reached a fever pitch since NATO allies have refused to aid the United States during the war with Iran. As a result, Trump told these allies to fend for themselves during the energy crisis, and he has not backed down.

‘This was a very frank, very open discussion.’

Trump has openly floated the idea of withdrawing from the alliance altogether after having a “frank and open” discussion with Rutte in the White House on Wednesday.

“He is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies,” Rutte told CNN following the meeting. “And I can see his point.”

RELATED: ‘Delayed courage’: Trump tells allies to fend for themselves amid oil crisis

Mandel NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

“Clearly, this was a very frank, very open discussion,” Rutte added. “But also a discussion between two good friends.”

While Rutte kept his cards close to his chest, Trump took to Truth Social to tell the world exactly what he thinks of the alliance.

“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post after the meeting.

“None of these people, including our own, very disappointing, NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them!!!” Trump said in another Truth Social post.

Although Trump has continued to signal his strong disapproval of the alliance, no formal decision has been made about withdrawing from NATO.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Donald trump, Nato, Iran wr, Europe, Allies, Oil, Iran, Mark rutte, Truth social, Greenland, Piece of ice, Nato allies, Alliance, Politics 

For years, Washington insiders from both parties talked a big game about lowering health care costs. Yet somehow, the bills kept rising, families kept struggling, and the real power players in the system kept getting a free pass. Not anymore.

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice is finally taking aim at one of the biggest and most overlooked drivers of high health care costs: anticompetitive contracting by dominant hospital systems.

Hospitals are businesses first and foremost — and like any business, they’re out to maximize profits.

The recent lawsuits against giants like New York Presbyterian and Ohio Health are a clear signal that the era of unchecked hospital power is coming to an end.

Let’s be honest about what’s been happening. In city after city, hospital markets have quietly consolidated until competition barely exists. When nearly all metro areas have highly concentrated hospital systems, those systems use their leverage to lock in contracts that guarantee them top-tier placement in insurance networks while blocking efforts to guide patients toward more affordable care.

These so-called “anti-steering” provisions might sound technical, but their impact is simple: higher prices and fewer choices for American families.

When insurers and employers cannot design plans that reward lower-cost, high-quality providers, patients are forced into more expensive options whether they realize it or not. Workers pay more in premiums. Businesses face higher costs. Taxpayers pick up the tab through government programs.

What makes the Trump DOJ’s actions so important is that they are willing to challenge institutions that have long been treated as untouchable. Hospitals often enjoy a halo effect in their communities, and many do lifesaving work. But that does not give them the right to use their market dominance to shut out competition and inflate prices.

Hospitals are businesses first and foremost — and like any business, they’re out to maximize profits.

By going after these restrictive contracts, the administration is restoring something that has been missing from health care for far too long: real competition. When plans have the flexibility to exclude overpriced systems or steer patients toward better-value options, the entire market starts to work the way it is supposed to.

We already have evidence this works. Plans that avoid the most expensive hospital systems can significantly reduce costs — without negatively impacting the quality of the care being delivered — and even modest steering can deliver meaningful savings. In a system as large as American health care, those savings translate into billions of dollars and real relief for families.

Predictably, the corporate hospital industry is pushing back, claiming these lawsuits are misguided. But that is what you hear whenever someone finally challenges entrenched interests. The same voices that benefited from the status quo are now being asked to compete on a level playing field, and they do not like it.

RELATED: Tax-exempt hospitals are not putting their patients first

David M. Levitt/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Instead of protecting powerful institutions, the Trump administration is standing up for patients, workers, and employers who have been footing the bill for far too long. It is a reminder that markets only work when competition is protected, and that means enforcing the rules when they are violated.

For decades, Americans have been told that health care costs are just too complicated to fix. But sometimes the problem is simpler than the experts admit. When a few dominant players can write the rules, everyone else loses. President Trump and the Department of Justice are finally rewriting that script.

Draining the swamp is not just about Washington politics. It is about rooting out the hidden arrangements and insider advantages that drive up costs across our economy, including in health care.

By taking on anticompetitive hospital contracting, the Trump administration is proving that no industry is above scrutiny.

That is a win for competition, a win for affordability, and most importantly, a win for the American people.

​Trump, Healthcare costs, Hospitals, Hospital systems, Monopolies, Insurance, Insurance costs, Doj, Opinion & analysis 

The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act ratified by President Donald Trump in December is overhauling the draft registration process.

Under the new law, “every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 26” will be registered for the draft automatically. The previous policy required young men to self-register within 30 days of their 18th birthday.

‘Undocumented immigrants are by definition not giving data.’

Craig Brown, the acting director of the Selective Service System since 2021, noted in a report earlier this year that automatic registration was among the top three transformational initiatives that his agency — which is tasked with registering men and maintaining a system that “rapidly provides manpower in a fair and just manner” — would pursue over the next five years.

Sure enough, the SSS submitted a proposed rule change to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30 titled “Automatic Registration.”

Per the SSS, “This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources.”

The SSS strategic plan notes that implementation will be executed in alignment with Trump’s Executive Order 14243, which directed federal agency heads to ensure that federal officials “have full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, data, software systems, and information technology systems — or their equivalents if providing access to an equivalent dataset does not delay access — for purposes of pursuing administration priorities related to the identification and elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse.”

It’s presently unclear whether automation with improved inter-agency data-sharing and the Department of Homeland Security’s boosted alien registration efforts will address the suspected under-registration of draft-eligible parolees, illegal aliens, legal permanent residents, and asylum-seekers.

RELATED: ‘Terrible betrayal’: Republican’s ‘compassionate’ immigration bill sparks intraparty clash

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The Oversight Project raised concerns last year about possible widespread criminal noncompliance by inadmissible aliens — concerns fueled in part by the absence of a surge in registrations during the Biden administration, according to data provided by the SSS to Congress.

These concerns were further fueled by documents hinting at an awareness behind the scenes at the SSS that the agency was failing to capture data on potential illegal alien registrants.

For instance, in an April 28, 2023, email obtained by the Oversight Project, SSS acting Director Brown noted that “undocumented immigrants are by definition not giving data. We get info on every male trying to legit stay in the country.”

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, “I have no idea how they plan on automatically registering so-called undocumented immigrants into the Selective Service. Given the fact that the DOJ seems not to care about charging the hordes of military-aged male illegal aliens who came in during the Biden administration with failure to register, which could put them in jail for up to five years, I doubt that it’s been considered in much detail or is even on the radar.”

Blaze News has reached out to the SSS for comment.

According to an SSS report to Congress, the registration rate for eligible men in 2024 was 81%. The report suggested that automating the process might help bolster registration rates.

Failure to register for the draft is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or five years in prison. An individual who “knowingly counsels, aids, or abets” another person not to comply with the requirement can be slapped with the same penalties.

Failure to register could also jeopardize immigrants’ U.S. citizenship, preclude offenders from receiving state-funded financial aid and job training, and cause ineligibility for various federal employment opportunities.

Editor’s note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Draft, War, Military, Selective service, Sss, Mike howell, Oversight project, Ndaa, President donald trump, Illegal aliens, Aliens, Politics