May 26 2017

Trump at NATO: Power Shakes and Shoves

Everyone was wondering how long Donald Trump would be on his good boy behavior. he managed to be at least somewhat unoffensive, with only a few gaffs, during his visits in Saudi Arabia and Israel and his audience with Pope Francis. His good boy act ended with his arrival in Brussels for the NATO Summit and the Bully Boy resurfaced. No, Donnie, throwing your weight around, literally, is not how you make friends and influence allies.

He’s not exactly the most popular kid in the class. On his arrival in Brussels, a city he had called a “hellhole,” to address the annual NATO conference and dedicate the new headquarters, Trump was greeted by thousands of protesters carrying signs “Not Welcome Here” and “stay out of our hole.”

Already cranky and tired from traveling and a vigorous schedule, Trump got off on the wrong foot with a confrontational address, in which he chided NATO allies for not spending enough on defense and while mentioning Article 5, which outlines the principles of collective defense, neglected to endorse it.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell called the speech “painful to watch.”

After the speeches were all done on the way for a group photo, Trump was seen shoving his way to front of the group pushing aside the Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic and looking very pleased with himself.

Montenegro will become a NATO member in June much to the displeasure of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

After the meeting Trump had lunch with the newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron after which there was an exchange of white knuckled, power handshakes that Trump appears to have lost.

Macron looked very pleased and trump a bit pained.

Then later in the day, Trump tried to get his revenge on Macron, after he was made to wait while Macron greeted Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Yeah, it did look like Trump was trying to rip off Macron’s arm. By now, Trump’s rude handshakes and hugs have become notorious with heads of state and politicians bracing themselves for the encounter like the president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon last Tuesady

And there was presidential candidate Hillary Clinton practicing how to dodge Trtump’s unwanted embrace during debate prep.

It speaks volumes about Trump that a woman would have to formulate some sort of plan to go up against someone with a history of being verbally violent and physically threatening, especially towards women. He is just an embarrassment and his supporters don’t care.

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