Trump at NATO was headed for tears, but a funny thing happened on the way out of the forum

July 9, 2026 — 9:30am

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London: There seemed no chance of a happy outcome when Donald Trump arrived at a security summit with European leaders in the Turkish capital, Ankara, a few days ago.

And the awkward gathering for a “family photo” at the NATO summit only reminded everyone of the tensions between the US president and most of the other leaders on the podium.

But something startling happened by the time Trump was ready to fly home. There was a rare outbreak of unity and a significant decision on how to defend Ukraine. The summit ended with something that looks like success.

Yes, the American president griped about the Europeans whenever he had the chance. He walked past Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni without a glance at the group photo. He complained again that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer would not back the war on Iran. He reminded everyone that he still wanted control of Greenland.

The complaints evaporated at the very end of Trump’s closing press conference on Wednesday in Ankara, or about 3am on Thursday, AEST.

“I can only say that if there’s one word that comes out of today, it’s unification,” he said of the conclusion of the summit.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. They love us. They love each other. That was tremendous unification.”

As usual, deeds matter more than words where Trump is concerned. In this case, his flowery language matched at least some of the outcomes.

First, he acted on one of the most urgent challenges facing Ukraine and Europe: the missile........

© WA Today