Donald Trump arrived in Ankara, blustering and blowing about taking over Greenland, threatening to cut all trade with Spain and bemoaning the lack of European support for his unannounced war in Iran.
But he left NATO praising the same leaders, hailing the tremendous unity and love in the room and even dangled the prospect of granting Ukraine permission to produce US Patriot anti-missile defence systems.
But perhaps the biggest reprieve was the agreement to not set a date to meet again.
This could give Europeans the space to delay regrouping until 2029, when the check-up on last year’s spending commitments is due, which would mean that this year’s summit could even be Donald Trump’s last.
This year’s summit underscored how much tension is caused simply by the process of meeting. Trump said the only reason he attended this year was that the host was Turkish President, strongman, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom he praised as a ‘military power.’
The well-worn pantomime resumed when Trump touched down in Ankara, threatening Greenland once more and reviving his complaints that European allies did not support his war in Iran.
Trump’s demands that Europe and Canada do more are no longer a point of contention but one of vigorous agreement right across Europe, even if some are making good on their words compared to others.
But none of that justifies the threat to invade Greenland, which is administered by a fellow-NATO ally and his constant undermining of Article 5, the mutual defence clause.
As he ranted, Rutte sat next to him, smiling, with what could easily be perceived as agreement, as Trump railed against Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has refused to sign up to the 3.5 per cent NATO target agreed last year and accused the Spanish leader of being difficult to his NATO pal.
Trump, again, threatened to cut trade ties with Spain.
Rutte became the butt of many jokes when, during last year’s bilateral meeting with Trump, he referred to the US leader as ‘Daddy.’ Many Europeans have subsequently feared that not only does he go too far in his flattery, but that it has real implications.
Last month, for example, Rutte went on Fox News and revealed that hundreds of US flights involved in the war in Iran had taken off from Italian airbases.
He meant well — he was trying to explain to Mr Trump’s MAGA-Eurosceptic base that Europe had actually played a vital part in supporting the war on Iran. The problem was that this was not the message that European leaders have been telling their equally Trump-sceptic voters at home.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hit back, suggesting the NATO boss was overenthusiastic and confused.
So when Trump revived his complaints about Greenland and Iran — a war he revived overnight, calling the Iranian regime scum and loco — it injected a new dose of fear and concern.
‘Mark, you sit next to Donald Trump in moments where he talks about conquering Greenland, talks about lashing out at Allies like Spain, starting trade wars, things that it does not seem like the old Mark Rutte would approve of. Does this have any effect on your self-respect when you sit next to him like that and say nothing?’ chastised a Danish journalist at a later press conference.
‘What I always do is acknowledge when praise is due, and I think we should praise Donald Trump for the fact that NATO is so much stronger,’ Mr Rutte said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to the press after the Ankara summit. Photo: Latika M Bourke
But by the time Mr Trump arrived on the NATO stage two-and-a-half hours late to a standing-room-only press conference, journalists spent hours lining up for a spot, the President was once again appeased.
Granted, the 80-year-old did not seem his past self. He appeared to be slurring, repeated himself incessantly and rambled incoherently more than usual, at one point declaring that he’d be a better communist than Lenin, which he pronounced as ‘Leneen’.
Compared to his performance at The Hague a year ago, he appeared very much a President in decline. Earlier in the day, he made a series of gaffes, referring to Japan as the ‘Islamic Republic of Japan.’
But they may go down as the lowlights. The short six-point communique restated the commitment to Article 5, the mutual defence pact that Trump has repeatedly undermined, and reaffirmed support for Ukraine.
Included was support for Trump’s ambition to ‘denuke’ Iran, although there was no allied commitment to supporting the restarted war in any meaningful way.
US President Donald Trump speaks to the media in Ankara. Photo: Latika M Bourke
Trump heaped praise on the leaders he was savaging hours before, describing them as ‘very smart people’ with ‘a lot of good in their heart, not evil, good.’
He said he wished the press could have been allowed to watch the meeting to observe the ‘tremendous unity.’
‘There was tremendous love in that room,’ he said. But said that he didn’t want to say that it was all for him, ‘because you’ll say, ‘Oh, he’s so conceited. He’s such a conceited person.’’
‘Maybe they’re trying to get to me. And in a way they did,’ he added.
When he read from his script, he was even more effusive.
NATO partners, he said, were ready to honour their commitments to spending up.
‘I think I can say in all cases they’re going to be answering the call and well in taking in over a trillion dollars a year toward defence,’ he said.
That trillion-dollar figure didn’t come from nowhere.
Last month, Rutte visited Trump in the White House and unveiled a giant chart that he said displayed the ‘Trump Trillion’ in NATO defence spending that had been assigned since the US President returned to power.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who angered Trump with his criticisms of the Iran war, was also full of praise.
‘President Trump participated in all of today’s discussions without exception, remaining in the meeting room the entire time,”’ he said.
‘And what struck me was his attentive listening to the representatives of the smaller member states. He was very aware of what was happening in those smaller member states and showed great empathy.’
Say what you like about Rutte’s methods, but there is no doubt that they work.
A version of this article was first published by The Nightly
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