Former Deputy Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Jim Townsend says that NATO leaders had to adapt to President Trump’s tone and style during his first term.
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00:00Yes, so basically we got Munich in February. Four months after that, the NATO summit. And
00:04I just want to ask you whether you see NATO changing significantly during the second term
00:11of President Trump? Because in the first term, it was in for a few shocks, wasn't it?
00:16Well, I think in the first term, the Allies had to get used to being spoken to the way
00:22Trump speaks to them. In the past, of course, the US presidents have been very diplomatic
00:28and politicians as well. And so they were easier to get along with. Trump's a very different
00:34person, very different personality, has some grievances about Europe. And so he was very
00:40direct. And they had to get used to dealing with that, as well as his tactics of threatening
00:46to withdraw from NATO and that type of thing.