{"id":964,"date":"2026-07-14T13:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=964"},"modified":"2026-07-14T13:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:43:15","slug":"natos-summit-of-love-that-wasnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=964","title":{"rendered":"NATO\u2019s summit of love that wasn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

There was a time when an elderly president\u2019s behavior in public set off alarm bells in his own party and across the country, leading him to drop out of his reelection campaign. Joe Biden, returning from an arduous overseas trip, appeared in a presidential debate against Donald Trump in June 2024 obviously debilitated and, weeks later, he was forced to leave the race. But Biden was a Democrat, a member of a party that expects their leader to be basically functional. After Trump\u2019s recent performance at the NATO summit, it is clearer than ever that Republicans have no such concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s slow-motion dismantling of elections<\/a><\/p>\n

The president flew into Ankara, Turkey, on the new Air Force One, the fancy gift he <\/span>requested from Qatar<\/span>, obviously cranky and out of sorts \u2014\u00a0even after President <\/span>Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/span> greeted him like a visiting potentate, showing off a new building bearing Trump\u2019s name. (You can\u2019t go wrong splashing the president\u2019s name on buildings. It\u2019s his favorite thing. And Trump loves a dictator who treats him like a king.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The president\u2019s bad mood was attributed to the fact that Iran was refusing to cooperate with his demands to do what he tells them or be annihilated. In other words, he was dealing with a country just as bellicose and irrational as he is, and it had him in a funk. The administration\u2019s diplomatic talks were going badly, and Iran had just violated the ceasefire, causing him to once again look like a fool for insisting that a lasting peace deal was imminent. The war he was desperate to end \u2014 and add to his illusory list of peace deals \u2014\u00a0was starting up again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the joint press conference with Erdogan before the official NATO meeting, Trump made it clear that he was also unhappy with Israel, probably because he knows he has realized he was played by Benjamin Netanyahu, who cajoled him into attacking Iran against the advice of virtually everyone. The Israeli prime minister was begging him not to sell F-35 aircraft to Turkey, which they consider a serious adversary, but Trump announced at the press conference that he was considering the move, as well as lifting sanctions on the authoritarian regime, which elicited a thrilled response from Erdogan and his entourage. It appeared to be Trump\u2019s way of telling Netanyahu, \u201cYou\u2019re not the boss of me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump also railed against NATO itself, the organization he abhors for failing to behave like the colonists he thinks they are. He again demanded that the U.S. be allowed to seize Greenland, and <\/span>according to CNN\u2019s public fact-checker Daniel Dale<\/span>, Trump once again incorrectly claimed the island nation is \u201csurrounded by Chinese and Russian ships,\u201d requiring American protection. As Greenland is part of Denmark, it is already protected by the U.S., Canada and Europe, but as Trump <\/span>told the New York\u00a0 Times<\/span> earlier this year, it\u2019s important for him \u201cpsychologically\u201d to actually own the country because he believes \u201cownership gives you a thing that you can\u2019t do, whether you\u2019re talking about a lease or a treaty.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That comment alone should give pause to any ally counting on a treaty with the U.S. guaranteeing their protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump ranted about Biden allegedly giving away billions to Ukraine for no reason, and he rambled on about the 2020 presidential election, insisting as usual that it was rigged and he actually won it in a landslide. (The psychic wound of that loss still festers and bubbles like a gangrenous limb, <\/span>threatening to kill our democracy<\/span>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The Europeans had been expecting this. The last NATO meeting, in 2025, was a disaster. It came on the heels of what had appeared to be very serious threats from Trump to take Greenland militarily, causing the Europeans to send small contingents of troops to the country, a largely symbolic move intended to signal to Trump that the cost of such an operation would be higher than he intended.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He backed away from that threat, but his pique at NATO for not following his more recent orders to join the Iran campaign still had him fuming, and he was engaged in a public spat with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling her a \u201cstalker\u201d on Truth Social. (Angry that his erstwhile closest ally among the Europeans had refused Italian airfields for the strikes on Iran, Trump claimed she had begged him for a picture at the G7 in June, a charge she vehemently denied.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an appearance with NATO Secretary-General (and so-called Trump whisperer) Mark Rutte, the president was still in a foul mood, <\/span>petulantly attacking Spain<\/span>. There are \u201cbad people\u201d there, he said, adding that he didn\u2019t want to do any trade with the country or have any \u201cvisits,\u201d apparently because its president, like Meloni, had denied the American military access to its airfields to assist with Iran operations. Nonetheless, Rutte dutifully extolled Trump for his alleged great leadership and told him to \u201ctake the win\u201d for having forced Europe to shoulder more of the burden for self-defense, but the president did not seem appeased.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more The race to unseat Susan Collins is resetting around abortion<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Then something happened. Trump met with all the NATO leaders behind closed doors and emerged a changed man.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Then something happened. Trump met with all the NATO leaders behind closed doors and emerged a changed man. He proclaimed \u201cthere was a lot of love in that room,\u201d later telling the press, \u201cThey said, \u2018We love you, sir, we love you.\u2019 These are grown people saying that. Isn\u2019t that nice? Maybe, I don\u2019t know, maybe they\u2019re trying to get to me, and in a way they did, because there was tremendous unity in that room.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, all he needed was a big, giant group hug.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It worked. In a shocking turnaround, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, treating him with respect and something approaching affection, even promising to look into licensing to the country the ability to build their own Patriot missiles, which are desperately needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe it was from all the love bombing, but Trump also <\/span>seemed confused<\/span>. He talked about \u201cthe Islamic Republic of Japan\u201d and repeatedly referred to Zelenskyy as \u201cPresident Putin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump ended the NATO summit by dubbing it a tremendous success, and it did end better than most. But the wild mood swings and confusion must have increased <\/span>already existing concerns<\/span> among the organization\u2019s members about his state of mind. It\u2019s possible Trump was just tired and cranky. He rarely sleeps anyway, and jet lag can certainly take a toll on an 80-year-old.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also possible that Trump had just been informed that Iran had <\/span>threatened his life again<\/span> and he would not be able to fly his fancy 747 out of Turkish airspace because it lacked the required defensive capability. (As a security precaution, he <\/span>left on the old Air Force One<\/span>.) Maybe having some allies in that moment soothed him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever caused the transformation, his erratic behavior on the world stage once again illustrated the double standard applied to him and his predecessor. Joe Biden looked old, and he turned in a debate performance so shocking that he had to step aside. Now, with two-and-a-half years left in his presidency, there are serious questions about Trump\u2019s health, and no one around him will even admit it\u2019s happening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he is starting wars, colonizing countries, obsessing over the decor in the White House and spending massive sums building monuments to himself. His Truth Social posts are often bizarre exercises in navel-gazing, and it\u2019s clear he isn\u2019t getting enough sleep. It doesn\u2019t seem sustainable to run a global superpower this way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I hear the Islamic Republic of Japan has an aging population. Perhaps they have some ideas about how to deal with this?<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more An attack on \u201cevery sofa in the US\u201d: States sue to block Paramount-Warner Bros. merger<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From threats against Greenland to verbal gaffes, Donald Trump’s behavior in Ankara raises tensions \u2014 and concerns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,5,273,842,1290,932],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-commentary","tag-donald-trump","tag-foreign-policy","tag-greenland","tag-military-spending","tag-nato"],"yoast_head":"\nNATO\u2019s summit of love that wasn\u2019t - Relocation Across America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=964\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NATO\u2019s summit of love that wasn\u2019t - Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From threats against Greenland to verbal gaffes, Donald Trump's behavior in Ankara raises tensions \u2014 and concerns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=964\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T13:43:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"headline\":\"NATO\u2019s summit of love that wasn\u2019t\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T13:43:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964\"},\"wordCount\":1345,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3b05a1f0f8aa18d17b0b95a13deea808.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Commentary\",\"Donald Trump\",\"Foreign Policy\",\"Greenland\",\"Military Spending\",\"NATO\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964\",\"name\":\"NATO\u2019s summit of love that wasn\u2019t - Relocation Across America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3b05a1f0f8aa18d17b0b95a13deea808.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T13:43:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=964#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3b05a1f0f8aa18d17b0b95a13deea808.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3b05a1f0f8aa18d17b0b95a13deea808.jpg\",\"width\":1692,\"height\":1142,\"caption\":\"USA President Donald Trump during the press conference at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkiye on July 8, 2026. 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