Donald Trump held a press availability with the NATO Secretary, former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, on Thursday which was anticipated to be a bit contentious considering Trump's hostility to the alliance. After all, he has made it very clear that he has nothing but contempt for the organization and could be expected to pull the U.S. out of it with the smallest provocation. And he was already very angry that Europe was retaliating against the tariffs he had enacted for no reason, writing on Truth Social that the EU is “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States." His fuse was short.
But Rutte was deferential to Trump, laughing excitedly at his "jokes" and making sure to let him know how much he appreciated him and it seemed to loosen the president up. Trump regaled the press with anecdotes about how he "invaded Los Angeles" and reiterated his plan to seize Greenland, saying "Denmark is very far away. A boat landed there 200 years ago or something and they say they have rights to it. I don't know if that's true. I don't think it is, actually" before declaring that there may have to be more soldiers there. He called the EU "nasty" and again made it clear that he is dead serious about annexing Canada:
