EXCLUSIVE - NATO Frantically Tries to Trump-Proof President's First Visit

[DonViejo]

Source: Foreign Policy

A ‘freaked-out’ NATO braces for Donald Trump’s first meeting of the transatlantic alliance.

BY ROBBIE GRAMER MAY 15, 2017

NATO is scrambling to tailor its upcoming meeting to avoid taxing President Donald Trump’s notoriously short attention span. The alliance is telling heads of state to limit talks to two to four minutes at a time during the discussion, several sources inside NATO and former senior U.S. officials tell Foreign Policy. And the alliance scrapped plans to publish the traditional full post-meeting statement meant to crystallize NATO’s latest strategic stance.

On May 25, NATO will host the heads of state of all 28 member countries in what will be Trump’s first face-to-face summit with an alliance he bashed repeatedly while running for president. NATO traditionally organizes a meeting within the first few months of a new U.S. president’s term, but Trump has the alliance more on edge than any previous newcomer, forcing organizers to look for ways to make the staid affair more engaging.

“It’s kind of ridiculous how they are preparing to deal with Trump,” said one source briefed extensively on the meeting’s preparations. “It’s like they’re preparing to deal with a child — someone with a short attention span and mood who has no knowledge of NATO, no interest in in-depth policy issues, nothing,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They’re freaking out.”

Still, despite these changes, experts are wary of how Trump will react to NATO meetings and their long-winded, diplomatic back-and-forth among dozens of heads of state, which can quickly balloon into hours of meandering discussions. One former senior NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described these meetings as “important but painfully dull.”

Read more: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/15/nato-frantically-tries-to-trump-proof-presidents-first-visit-alliance-europe-brussels/

[C_U_L8R]

1. How embarrassing.

Trump is such a moron... oh, the shame.

[PatSeg]

3. Absolutely embarrassing

This is so pathetic.

[furtheradu]

2. Evil idiot "representing" US overseas

Horrifies me. The "best" I can hope for is we're ONLY embarrassed. Thank You for this post.

[Hekate]

4. KnR

[Vinca]

5. Maybe they could hire Little Golden Books to provide him a synopsis.

[dalton99a]

9. +1

[dhill926]

6. they should do just the opposite and fuck with him...

and expose him for the shit stain he is...

[Lucky Luciano]

19. Agreed. I want him humiliated. nt

[bettyellen]

27. Is skipping the "full meeting statement" because no one trusts he will stick to whatever he says?

Or they anticipate it would be too embarrassing or unproductive? I'm not thrilled about this since he seems to despise having a paper trail, or vetting, or facts...

[vlyons]

7. Yeah embarrassing

is my first thought too. What kind of faux pax shit show will Trump enact? How many think he will drag out his greatest electoral college win since the wheel was invented?

[Chemisse]

8. They shouldn't do a damn thing.

If he can't attend a NATO meeting without special "accommodations," he should not be on the world stage.

[ATL Ebony]

10. K&R, +1000

[LuckyLib]

20. We have a winner. If he can't handle the nature

of the office, get the hell out!

[smirkymonkey]

39. Thank YOU!

It's absolutely ridiculous that they should have to dumb down to cater to this pathetically stupid, immature man-baby.

I can't believe they are even entertaining the notion. Fuck him if he can't handle it. It will serve him right to be publicly humiliated.

[sheshe2]

11. He has the attention span of a gnat...

and probably as much brain power.

[Paladin]

12. Sounds like Angela Merkel has been spreading the word.

What a humiliation trump is.

[C_U_L8R]

16. The thing about Trump

He's never quite sure if people are making fun of him to his face.
You can see it when he gets that "i gotta fart' look.
He suspects someone is showing great disrespect - but the joke
is clearly going of his head. I think he doubletaked Obama and
Merkel as they artfully got under his skin. Hilariously thin skin.
So easy.

[madinmaryland]

37. Bush rubbed her back and tRump will grab her... nt.

[Else You Are Mad]

13. I wouldn't doubt that...

The other NATO nations will have secret meetings that exclude the US just so they can get some actual business done.

[kimbutgar]

14. Give him the wrong schedule so he is never on time for meetings

I predict he will walk out and be bored within 30 minutes. They should have the photos ops at the end so he's not included.

And imagine the protesters who will be outside waiting for him. It's going to be a nightmare.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. Assuming he is not arrested before then

I can only imagine the part when everyone sits around and listens to translators.
and the fact he cannot hog all the limelight.
I hope they call him Drumpf.

For the hell of it, I looked up the 28 NATO countries. (He will be so lost without Russia.)

Original members:
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia (2004), and Albania and Croatia (2009).
So hey..he should bring Melania along. She can talk in a lot of the languages they will be using.

[kimbutgar]

41. We could only hope!!!

[Martin Eden]

15. They should do the FULL DONNIE -- put him on display with all his embarassing deficiencies

It's a mistake to coddle a petulant child.

[Demit]

17. Unfortunately he's a POWERFUL petulant child.

He's Billy Mumy's character in the Twilight Zone episode, who can send people to the cornfield.

[Martin Eden]

18. He's not quite THAT powerful

... but he has ample power to be frighteningly dangerous.

The thing is, We The People really need a way to take that dangerous power away from this ignorant petulant manbaby -- which would require his own party having a major role in that proceeding.

I don't know how far beyond the pale Donnie has to be for that to happen, but exposing his embarrassing dangerous deficiencies is a push in that direction.

It's a gamble as to what he might do if dissed on the international stage, but he's the biggest world threat right now no matter what. He has to be got rid of.

[PinkTiger]

24. Ha!

Interesting allusion.

[Solly Mack]

21. Good luck with that.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Everyone knows except tRump, Fox viewers & ultracon website readers. . . nt

[colorado_ufo]

23. This is pitiful.

[Sunlei]

25. He's good at pretending he's been in meetings 24/7.

[dchill]

26. Not to be insensitive, but what a retread!

[wcmagumba]

28. He'll demand that they all pay...

the money they owe and storm out of the room...drumph is one giant belching a-hole!

[moonscape]

29. Just keep feeding him cokes and burgers and he'll be distracted and fine n/t

[underpants]

31. A chocolate cake

but make sure it's THE BEST chocolate cake

[Flaleftist]

34. Yes. Load them with trans fat.

Lots and lots of trans fat, bigly. And zero exercise.

[moonscape]

38. With 3 scoops of ice cream! n/t

[COLGATE4]

30. Can anyone here tell me with a straight face

that if this identical statement - "NATO is scrambling to tailor its upcoming meeting to avoid taxing... (the) President's... notoriously short attention span" had been published in the mainstream press eight years ago there wouldn't have been a horrendous outpouring of incredulity and criticism? This is how far down the rabbit hole we've gone in just a little over 100 days. God help us.

[underpants]

32. Tell him Frederick Douglass is in the next room and then go about your normal business

It'll take a long time to figure it out.

[Thomas Hurt]

33. If it makes you feel better, you could consider it accomodation of the disabled...

[Flaleftist]

35. Have they also considered making pictures with crayons?

[Juliusseizure]

36. If I were NATO

I'd be serving Trump steaks, Trump Vodka and Trump water at every meal, and toast him for being a brilliant businessman/politician and the most powerful person in the world. He loves the ego boost.

I'd have very attractive young women serving the above and pretending to enjoy his company. He loves being with attractive women who find him irresistible.

I'd honor him with grand awards of knighthood, honorary greatest person awards, and other fake titles on fake gold medals. He loves the ego boost.

Then with all those distractions I'd had him sign documents he won't read to get the goods.