International journalists were laughing at President Donald Trump as he answered questions at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, a correspondent posted on social media.
S.V. Date, a senior White House correspondent at HuffPost, wrote on X: “Trump is rambling at his news conference in The Hague, and foreign journalists who are unused to hearing his nonsense are giggling.”
Date pointed to different instances throughout his press conference, as Trump answered a range of questions from the U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
At one point, Trump referred to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the “secretary of war,” and said that the United States changed the name of the War Department to the Department of Defense, in 1947, when the country became “politically correct.”
“It used to be called secretary of war. Maybe for a couple of weeks we’ll call it that, because we feel like warriors,” Trump said, as Hegseth stood behind him.
In another instance, when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump described him as “misguided.” He said that he has been “more difficult” to deal with than anticipated when about his pledge to end the war with Ukraine within his first 24 hours in office.
“I’m very surprised actually, I thought we would have had that settled easy,” Trump said.
Trump had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the summit, and said the meeting couldn’t have been “nicer.” Zelenskyy, who Trump said is “fighting a brave battle,” wrote in a post on X that the two discussed how to achieve a ceasefire and a “real peace.” Ukraine has previously accused Russia of stalling peace negotiations to end the fighting.
Date also mentioned Trump labeling Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as “a very average mentally person.” The president has continued to criticize Powell over the central bank’s reluctance to cut interest rates, as it cited expected higher inflation and lower economic growth in its decision earlier this month.
“I’d say low in terms of what he does, low IQ for what he does,” Trump said of Powell, who testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also broke into laughter after Trump reacted to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte calling Trump as “daddy.” His comments came after Trump said Israel and Iran “don’t know what the f–k they’re doing” during heated remarks near the White House on Tuesday, before he headed to the summit.
“Daddy has to sometimes use strong language,” Rutte said, referring to Trump’s use of an expletive.
“Every once in a while, you have to use a certain word,” Trump added, as Rubio laughed uncontrollably in the background.
The NATO summit concluded with world leaders agreeing to a massive hike in defense spending — a proposal set forth by Trump. They also said they would keep an “ironclad commitment” in coming to one another’s aid if attacked.
“Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations,” the statement, endorsed by 32 leaders, reads.
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