The untold story of the most chaotic Nato summit ever

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

79% : "I see in the media coverage that everyone is happy," Trump told the other leaders.
74% : "Trump finally got to the meeting room in the heart of Nato headquarters, a large space dominated by a huge ring-shaped table encircled by hundreds of seats for aides, ambassadors and note-takers.
69% : Trump signalled he would like to be given the next opportunity to speak.
64% : "Trump was flanked by his core Nato team.
59% : "Working summit dinner, Brussels Art & History Museum, Parc CinquantenaireFor the rest of the day, Trump kept his counsel.
59% : Nato headquartersWhen Trump walked out of the summit room, his aides were hoping to whisk him off to Zaventem airport and away to the UK for a four-day visit, including an audience with the Queen.
58% : Merkel whispered in his ear; Stoltenberg nodded; and then Merkel walked over to Trump, whispering in his ear, recalled one person present.
58% : Trump, according to multiple people in the room, walked away from the conversation beaming.
58% : In the press room, Trump strolled across the stage to the lectern.
57% : "Trump spoke for 45 minutes.
56% : Trump closed his eyes and nodded.
56% : "During a 15-minute-long oration, Trump called for European nations to raise their defence spending to twice the agreed benchmark and unfathomably high for almost all of the leaders listening.
55% : But with Trump gunning for a second term, what his return would mean for the alliance is likely to be on the minds of diplomats and politicians at next week's meeting.
55% : Slovenia's prime minister, Miro Cerar, watched on as Trump acknowledged that his wife, Melania, was born in his country.
54% : Imagine, Rutte, Stoltenberg and many of the other leaders implored Trump, how much more they would spend in the years to come.
53% : "I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening, and they have substantially upped their commitment," Trump continued.
52% : But then Trump turned up . . . lumbering through the Nato lobby all alone.
51% : "Trump hung up, crossed his arms and smiled.
51% : But now, those present were told to cast aside their carefully prepared files on Georgia and Ukraine and negotiate with Trump.
50% : After they did, Trump continued talking.
50% : "While the impromptu crisis committee was meeting, Trump was sitting a few yards away, arms crossed, in conversation with Bolton and Pompeo.
49% : ""We all know now that Trump uses these events as a negotiation tool," said one observer.
49% : German chancellor Angela Merkel got out of her seat as soon as Trump had finished.
48% : "Of all the European leaders in general," said a second observer, "he's probably one of the only ones who will be able to manage Trump in the years to come if Trump again finds himself back in the White House."
47% : Not all of that is due to Trump, of course.
47% : (Trump had a Coke brought in by an aide.)
46% : "I'm with Nato one thousand million per cent," Trump said.
46% : Trump was repeating the $33bn additional spending statistic that had been hastily offered to him just a few hours before.
44% : "I don't know if [Trump] planned it like that or not," said a person present that morning.
43% : As Trump knew, his delegation wanted to leave Brussels having delivered stern rhetoric, without having inflicted lasting damage to the transatlantic relationship that had underpinned US dominance of the west.
43% : "As Trump began to lose steam, he seemed to recall that the breakfast was envisaged as a two-way conversation.
42% : "But now we're following Trump.
40% : ""Trump had the facts on what every country was doing," said a second person," and he could cite who was putting in what per cent of their GDP into defence.
40% : "Trump brought up Spain's spending, less than half the 2 per cent guideline.
40% : And the other leaders are like, 'Oh my goodness what is he doing?'""Trump probably doesn't even know that Luxembourg is a member of Nato," said another person who was briefed on the exchange.
39% : The silver-haired Norwegian, who has the demeanour and rimless eyewear of an academic, had drawn up a plan for dealing with Trump -- his temperamental, emotional and physical opposite -- once they were behind closed doors.
39% : "Massive amounts of money is owed," Trump went on.
35% : As the cameras snapped shots of Trump, Stoltenberg and their two delegations, a reporter shouted: "Mr President, which countries did you want to spend more on Nato in particular?""Many countries are not paying what they should," Trump responded.
35% : As soon as Trump knocked the meeting off course, functionaries began frantically dashing in and out with printouts of data worked up to try to demonstrate that the allies were already taking steps to comply with Trump's demands.
34% : Few of the politicians and diplomats in attendance could really tell if Trump was serious about the threat.
32% : They said, 'Get me a copy of the treaty because [Trump] is saying he wants to leave Nato.'"
31% : "A CNN reporter asked Trump if he thought threatening his Nato allies had worked.
31% : "During his 2024 campaign for the presidency, Trump has repeated belligerent statements about Nato allies who don't pay enough.
30% : "Trump wanted to be taken seriously.
30% : ""The motivation for increasing defence spending," said another, "it wasn't just about Trump.
29% : "We're being treated unfairly," Trump said.
29% : Towards the end, a Croatian journalist asked the question on many people's minds: after the results of the summit, would Trump stop bashing the alliance on Twitter?"No," the president said.
28% : Rutte, the slick, silver-tongued Dutch leader who had remained in power by brokering impossible political coalitions, would attempt to engage Trump.
27% : And all it did was get Trump even more angry.
26% : There was this kind of awkward, animated discussion between the secretary-general and Merkel -- awkward because it's happening right next to Trump" and was about handling Trump.
25% : Trump claimed they could one day become security threats that the US would have to help defend against.
24% : Trump was unimpressed.
22% : Trump asked sarcastically.
22% : "Trump frowned.
21% : At one point, Trump claimed that Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission -- the EU's executive body, which is totally unrelated to Nato except for the more than 20 countries who are members of both -- was controlling how much European members pay into Nato."Trump was very, very harsh," said the person present.

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