It began, as always, with a screenshot. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States and the first person to make diplomatic communication public via Signal screenshot, delivered once again. This time, it was a message from new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. The content: praise for the “extraordinary” airstrike against Iranian nuclear facilities. One could almost believe Rutte had just congratulated a child on their first bomb drop. “That was truly extraordinary.” Truly - at least for world peace.
While Trump hovered over the Atlantic - physically on a plane, mentally likely somewhere between the golf course and a crypto account - The Hague prepared for his appearance. The NATO summit was actually supposed to be about defense spending. About 5 percent of GDP, of course. Not for education, not for climate protection. No, for tanks, drones, and everything that makes such a delightful bang. Europe applauded dutifully. But then the president sent word: Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire.” That both sides immediately denied it? Details. Trump, the self-proclaimed prince of peace, presented himself as the savior of the world - the missiles that flew again shortly thereafter he ignored as casually as his obligation to Article 5 of the NATO treaty. “Depends on the definition,” he said when asked about the mutual defense clause. A sentence like a coup attempt against language itself. Meanwhile, the rumbling continued. Al Green, Democrat from Texas, introduced a new impeachment proceeding - this time because of Trump’s unilateral Iran bombings. The accusation: “authoritarian abuse of power.” We’ve heard it before. Trump ignored the criticism and instead praised how well the markets reacted to his “peace plan.” Wall Street, that delicate orchid.
Meanwhile, the situation was far less profitable for many: Spanish-speaking truck drivers in the U.S. are fearing for their jobs because Trump now makes English proficiency a requirement for the profession. “A driver who can’t understand English will not drive a commercial vehicle in this country,” declared Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Ironic side note: most signs on U.S. highways are more cryptic than any Shakespeare passage. But back to the NATO summit. Between appetizers and airstrikes, Trump may have met with Volodymyr Selenskyy - unless he once again left early to tweet or publish another secret Signal photo. He had last received Selenskyy in the Oval Office - in the presence of Marco Rubio and JD Vance, who by now seem inseparable from Trump’s inner being. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting in Washington: intelligence chiefs like Tulsi Gabbard (who apparently qualifies for everything - from yoga to campaigning to espionage) must explain to Congress exactly how this whole “preemptive bombing” is securing world peace. Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries fear that “thousands of American lives” may be at risk. The White House, on the other hand, seems to see the whole thing as an especially expensive ad spot for the reelection campaign: “Trump protects America - with bunker busters.” Oh yes, and then there’s the U.S. economic sentiment - dropped to its lowest level since COVID-19. Consumer confidence is in free fall, even though Trump is currently pumping billions into crypto and the Trump Organization is now almost half made up of blockchain. If that doesn’t inspire confidence, what will.
While NATO states casually commit 5 percent of their economic output to defense and Europe wonders how to get rid of this man, Donald Trump demonstrates that, in a suit, with a phone full of secret messages and a Twitter-like network called “Truth Social,” one can still turn the world stage into an absurd theater. The world is burning. But at least there’s a screenshot of it.
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