CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share President Donald Trump appeared to push himself past the prime minister of Montenegro during a tour of NATO's new headquarters. (May 25) AP
During his first joint meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, President Trump on Thursday appeared to push aside the prime minister of Montenegro.
In a video of the interaction, the president comes up from behind and then shoves Montenegro's Dusko Markovic to get to the front of the group of world leaders. Trump then adjusts his jacket.
Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group? pic.twitter.com/bL1r2auELd — Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 25, 2017
Markovic appears to be taken aback at first, but after seeing that it was Trump, he smiles and pats Trump on the back.
When asked about the incident, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said, "I have not seen the video."
He also noted that the standing order for the photo op was pre-determined, as usual.
Twitter, as always, had some thoughts:
No silly. That's just a 'locker room' shove. Nothing Trump does is offensive if you put 'locker room' in front of it. https://t.co/O92qRyvvnm — FrugalistaBlog (@frugieblog) May 25, 2017
Honestly, the best part is Trump fixing his coat and doing that chin-in-the-air thing he does after the shove. https://t.co/PWknhEZolH — Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) May 25, 2017
Yesterday, we had the Gianforte Bodyslam. Today, we have the Trump Shove. To say Trump is unrelated to the coarsening of politics is absurd. https://t.co/E4DKEsSu2o — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 25, 2017
Trump truly taking "America First" to heart - willing to literally push aside world leaders to stand in front. https://t.co/L4UEcZExjK — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 25, 2017
@SteveKopack@SamHarrisOrg It was a friendly pat, not a shove. We've all experienced it. The guy even smiles at Trump & pats him on the back. Nothing to see here. — Pashow (@FluentNature) May 25, 2017
During the Thursday meeting, Trump called on other leaders to spend more money on security, but did not explicitly endorse NATO's commitment to collective defense.
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LukeSkyFAKER on May 25th, 2017 at 21:13 UTC »
As someone from Cetinje, Montenegro, this makes me happy. Now people atleast talk about my country
green_flash on May 25th, 2017 at 18:36 UTC »
Some context:
This is the first time Montenegro took part in a NATO summit. The country is split between pro-Western and pro-Russian sentiment, but their leadership decided to defy Russia and join NATO despite a lot of resentment against NATO in the population.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/25/montenegro-tensions-russia-joins-nato-member
thewholedamnplanet on May 25th, 2017 at 17:28 UTC »
Well he didn't bodyslam him so that's something.
But Trump, always bringing the class his voters demand, they're going to love the alphaness of it.