Trump’s overblown claims about his “successes” have happened before and will most likely continue into the future. It is just another way for him to bolster his standing among his ignorant base supporters. Instead of seeing the inept, uninformed, and totally unqualified statesman that he is, they still see him as the mega successful reality show, boardroom businessman, self promoting carnival barker that’s working for them.

Analysis: Trump's questionable claims of success

BRUSSELS (AP) — Declaring victory over freeloading partners, President Donald Trump claimed he had secured significant new concessions from NATO member nations on military spending after days of public haranguing. But even before Air Force One completed its 50-minute flight across the English Channel to the next stop on his European tour, Trump's claims of accomplishment were challenged by the same allies he claimed had caved.

Trump's head-spinning 28 hours at the NATO summit in Brussels before visiting Britain reaffirmed a familiar pattern for the salesman-turned-president, who left a chaotic trail behind and whose self-proclaimed accomplishments abroad proved once again to be more show than substance. In the space of eight hours, Trump had moved from doubting the utility of the mutual defense alliance and provoking an extraordinary emergency session of its members to declaring the pact stronger than ever.

It's a playbook Trump has followed before: Trump claimed world-altering success following last month's meeting with Kim Jong Un, when he stated that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat" after their historic summit in Singapore. And in May, he took a victory lap on a supposed trade deal with China, only to see it morph into the beginnings of a trade war.

After days of calling on NATO members to increase their defense spending to at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product, accusing Germany of being "totally controlled" by Russia and pondering "what good is NATO?" Trump offered Thursday that "people have stepped up today like they've never stepped up before."

"I've taken over a lot of bad hands and I'm fixing each one of them, and I'm fixing them well," Trump said during a hastily called press conference Thursday. "What they're doing is spending at a much faster clip. They're going up to the 2 percent level."

But statements from NATO allies suggested there was little cause for Trump's self-congratulation.

French President Emmanuel Macron denied there were any new spending commitments.

He said: "There is a communique that was published yesterday. It's very detailed. It confirms the goal of 2 percent by 2024. That's all."

That 2024 goal had been set in 2014.

Instead of new pledges, NATO members appeared to try to placate Trump by giving him a share of the credit for progress that had already been under way.

"I made clear that we know that we have to do more and that we have been doing so for quite a while," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "That turning point has long been initiated."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg demurred when asked what Trump had accomplished, saying the allies "agree that we need to deliver on our commitments."

He did allow, though, that there was "a new sense of urgency" about increasing military spending.

Trump's boasts of achievement have come under question before.

North Korea has yet to take substantial steps to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, and on Thursday appeared to backtrack on a pledge to repatriate the remains of American war dead — a move that Trump weeks ago said the North had already undertaken. A letter from Kim that Trump tweeted out Thursday heralded the "start of a meaningful journey" between the two nations, but made no mention of denuclearization.

Trump's tweet: "A very nice note from Chairman Kim of North Korea. Great progress being made!"

The display at NATO shows how Trump, who views himself as a world-class negotiator, likes to play both good cop and bad cop himself. On Wednesday, he showed up at a breakfast meeting with Stoltenberg steaming mad, charmed allies at a black-tie dinner that evening, and sent them reeling Thursday morning, only to praise their efforts hours later.

That mercurial side of Trump is less likely to be experienced Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump has been anticipating a sit-down for weeks.

The president set himself a low bar for what he'll achieve in Moscow, telling reporters: "I think we go into that meeting looking for not so much." He said it could lead to "something very productive — and maybe it's not."

His diplomatic team argues the meeting in itself should be seen as notable achievement, so look for more grand proclamations next week.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters she's comfortable with the Trump-Putin summit, but it "depends very much on outcomes."

"These two people are very different, very interestingly different," she said. "Hopefully nothing bad happens."

I gotta admit, this guy is exhausting me as I try to keep up with fact-checking everything he says and does.  Does anyone else feel the same way?  Evidently many congressmen must feel the same way or maybe they're too busy fund raising for their next campaign.

Last edited by Just Fred (7/13/2018 11:26 am)

"Let's get one thing straight, whatever your politics are.
The North Koreans have not released a single set of remains.*"

Correct they released 55 sets of remains!  The families of those 55 servicemen will be relived to have their family member back on US soil.
 

Last edited by Common Sense (7/28/2018 1:41 pm)