Did you know that the NATO Leaders Summit in Ankara was a surprising success? Oh yes, indeed it was, and it has been reported widely. Using mostly anonymous sources, for instance, The Washington Post reported that in closed session, President Trump supported the alliance strongly. And Trump himself, momentarily, played along with this charade. In his closing press conference on July 8, he said that the meeting showed the “tremendous unity” of NATO and furthermore claimed that the other NATO leaders were “very smart people — they have a lot of good in their heart, not evil, good.”
To add to the theatre of the absurd, Trump stated that there was “tremendous love in that room”.
Note—a tell that Trump is lying is when he speaks about caring or human affection. He does not believe in such things towards other people and so, when he discusses them, it is a tell that he does not care at all. Here is one of my favorite pieces on that phenomenon.
And this is not all—the US supposedly made other major moves. The US nuclear umbrella over Europe was said to have been reconfirmed (when it was not), and Ukraine was promised help with its air defense (which so far has been meaningless).
However, this did not stop reporting of the summit from taking what Trump said, momentarily, at face value.
And then the summit ended: Trump went back to bashing NATO, the defense commitment was revealed to be a poisoned chalice, and there has been no clarity at all about what help (if any) Ukraine was offered.
Maybe we will find out in two weeks.
Here are four ways in which the summit was not what it seemed and why it was the worst in history (which the participants actually admitted).
