NATO 70th Anniversary Gala
in London ~ London ~ December 2019
A video
surfaced that showed grinning world leaders at a Buckingham Palace reception
on Tuesday night (Dec. 3, 2019), apparently commiserating in what they
thought was a private conversation about the unmanageable behaviour of
the American president. This was sometime after Mr. Trump had suffered
a scolding from Pres. Macron over his involvement with NATO and recent
disastrous decisions in world politics.
“He
was late because he takes a 40-minute news conference at the top,”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said to a small group that
included President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Mark
Rutte of the Netherlands, Mr. Boris Johnson and Princess
Anne.
“You
just watch his team’s jaws drop to the floor,” Mr. Trudeau said at
another point in the video, expressing astonishment at Mr. Trump’s
behavior. Mr. Macron is also seen participating animatedly in the conversation,
but his comments cannot be heard. Mr. Johnson is seen smiling. Princess
Anne is part of the conversing group.
Mr. Trudeau
later explained that his “jaws drop” comment referred only to the surprise
announcement that the upcoming Group of 7 summit would be held at Camp
David, rather than as Mr. Trump had originally proposed at the Trump National
Doral golf resort in Miami.
The video
played directly into Mr. Trump’s own fixation with rival leaders laughing
at him, or at the United States. His angry response was: “He’s two-faced,”
Mr. Trump said of PM Trudeau, when asked about the viral video. But added
the comment, "He's a nice fellow."
Mr. Trump
seemed pleased with his own retort. “That was funny when I said that
guy was two-faced,” Mr. Trump said, in a second hot-mic moment of the
two-day gathering.
It is
not the first time Mr. Trump has had a run-in with Mr. Trudeau. Last year
he withdrew US support for a G7 declaration prepared for a summit in Charlevoix,
Quebec. Canadian PM Trudeau’s hard work in preparing the communique unravelled
after Mr. Trump, who left early, tweeted from Air Force One that Trudeau
was “very dishonest and weak” following criticism from the prime
minister of unfair US steel and aluminum tariffs.
Soon after, a furious, thin-skinned
Mr. Trump boarded Air Force One for an early return to the US without further
interaction with NATO members or planned press conferences.
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