Donald Trump had a series of troubling meltdowns at the NATO summit yesterday – threatening allies, lashing out at enemies and making his case for invading Greenland. Been distracted by Nigel Farage and Count Binface all day? Let’s get you caught up.
Trump went to NATO and was in a very, very bad mood(Image: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
Donald Trump had a series of troubling meltdowns at the NATO summit yesterday – threatening allies, lashing out at enemies and making his case for invading Greenland.
He openly boasted that he was about to start bombing Iran again – something President don’t normally do in advance. He threatened to commit war crimes, which can, in itself, constitute a war crime.
He called a world leader by the wrong name, dismissed the financial impact of his Iran war as “alright” – and there’s something weird going on with Air Force One.
Been distracted by Nigel Farage and Count Binface all day? Let’s get you caught up.
He woke up real grumpy and only got grumpier
Trump started the day with a bilateral meeting with Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO. And when the press were allowed in to see how they were getting along, it became clear very quickly that Trump was not in a good place.
In a phenomenal, lengthy, unbroken stream of consciousness – a single sentence without punctuation – he announced the US had attacked Iran the night before, called Iran’s leaders “sick”, “dirty players” and “scum”, said he’s not happy with NATO because of “what they did with Greenland” and being unwilling to help in his bombing of Iran, ranted about Spain being a “wasted cause” and repeatedly pretended to tell an off-camera aide to cut off all trade with Spain. “Cut of all trade with Spain please,” he said, which he can’t because Spain is in the EU and trades as part of that bloc. He added: “Including visits”.
Rutte, meanwhile, sat next to him, smiling and acting like this was all totally normal behaviour, before gushing about how great Trump was and all the great things he’s done.
Trump then went on at length about how much he want’s America to own Greenland, and how America should never have given it back to Denmark after World War II.
Asked by a reporter if the Iran ceasefire was “over”, Trump said: “That’s an interesting question. For me? I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them any more. They’re scum. You know what scum is?”
A reporter absolutely bodied Rutte for sucking up to Trump
A Danish reporter got up and asked a very pointed question at a press conference later on yesterday.
He said: “You sit next to Donald Trump at moments when he talks about conquering Greenland, talks about lashing out at allies like Spain — things it doesn’t seem like the old Mark Rutte would approve of. Does this have any effect on your self-respect when you sit there and say nothing?”
Rutter replied by saying how great Trump was and how he was doing so many great things.
Trump compared Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine to kids fighting in a park
Trump met with Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day, and sitting next to him, compared Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his country to kids fighting in a park.
“You have two kids in a park and they don’t like each other and they start fighting. Sometimes you have to let them fight. Let them see that it’s tough. Fighting is tough.”
He gave Ukraine some good news
Trump said he would agree to licence US-designed Patriot missiles to be manufactured outside America – and by Ukraine.
One slight problem…he didn’t appear to have informed manufacturers Lockheed Martin of this particular change in policy.
“One of the things we’re gonna be talking about is we’re gonna give a license to you to make Patriots,” Trump said. “That’s pretty cool, right? We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out alright. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.”
Trump announced on TV that he was about to attack Iran
Asked if he was going to try and take out more Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz tonight, Trump gave this reply for the ages: “Normally I wouldn’t tell you. But you know what? There’s not a thing they can do about it. So the answer is probably.”
Then he started threatening war crimes again
It’s generally held to be a breach of international law to deliberately target infrastructure like bridges or water facilities. Or even to threaten to do so, which Trump did yesterday sitting next to Zelensky.
He said: “In one day, we could knock down every single bridge in Iran. There’s not a thing they can do about it … if we have to, we’ll take them out. They have desalinisation plants. We’ll take them out if we have to … maybe we’ll take over Kharg island.”
Trump made the one mistake you never want to make sitting next to Volodymyr Zelensky
Trump mistakenly referred to Zelensky as “President Putin” during a lengthy and rambling press conference with Ukraine’s leader.
The 80-year-old US President turned to reporters, pointed to Mr Zelensky and said: “Do you have a question for President Putin, please?”
The gaffe came almost exactly two years to the day after former President Joe Biden made exactly the same mistake at the same conference.
Biden, who was then just a year and a half older than Trump is now, was facing mounting scrutiny over his age, health and ability to properly function as President.
Several reporters pointed out Trump’s gaffe today, after which the US President tried to style it out.
“Questions for President Putin, not Zelensky. What would you like to ask him, because I will ask him that question,” he said.
He then insisted a Ukrainian reporter give him a question for Russia’s dictator. They said: “When will he end this war?”
“That’s a good question,” Trump replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked him that question.”
He dismissed a $2 increase in oil prices as “alright”
Someone pointed out that – presumably as a result in the resumption of hostilities in Iran, the price of oil had gone up by about $2.
“When we hit Iran, oil goes up a bit,” Trump sniffed back. “It’s alright”.
Wait, which Air Force One are you getting home?
There was some confusion about which Air Force One Trump would be getting home. Shortly before leaving, Trump posted a cryptic message on Truth Social saying the new Qatar-gifted jet would be “sent” to the US refuelling station at RAF Mildenhall. Trump would also be going there, he said, but would be travelling on the “old” Air Force One “for old times’ sake”.
There was immediately speculation that the change in arrangements was because having only had 8 months to refit it, because the President insisted on using it, the Pentagon hadn’t managed to fit security and weapons systems into the new plane. Which is kinda fine when you’re travelling domestically, but not really fine if you’re taking off from a country bordering Iran and also you are bombing Iran.
Asked about it at the big press conference, Trump said of the Qatar jet: “Uh, it’s flying to Europe to one of the big bases where we can show it to the people. And we’ll be going home by …uh …normal methods”
After taking off, reporters on Air Force One were told they had to keep the window shades in the press cabin closed. This is not normal.
