‘Nasty’: Trump blasts Macron ‘brain dead’ comments as NATO meeting opens
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President Trump ignited a fresh diplomatic row on the opening morning of a NATO meeting in London by accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of insulting members of the alliance.
During a breakfast meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump set an angry tone for the next 48 hours, saying Macron had been “disrespectful” in saying that NATO was “brain dead” before attacking his standing in France.
Macron’s comments came after Turkey launched an operation in northern Syria against Kurdish forces without warning allies.
On his first full day in London, Trump said: “I think that is very insulting to a lot of different forces.
“It is a very, very nasty statement. I think they have a very high unemployment rate in France. France is not doing well economically at all.
“It is a very tough statement to make when you have such difficulty in France when you look at what is going on with the yellow vests.
“They have had a very rough year. You just can’t go around making statements like that about NATO. It is very disrespectful.”
His early intervention could derail hopes of a harmonious meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance.
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