European leaders use unusual strategy to appease a confused Trump at NATO summit

European leaders at the recent NATO summit in Ankara adopted a peculiar strategy to manage President Donald Trump's unpredictable temperament: they deliberately avoided mentioning the ongoing World Cup.

According to reports from The Guardian and Daily Mail, European officials discussed this unofficial tactic on the sidelines of the meeting. Their primary concern was Trump's threats regarding military funding and his potential reaction to the U.S. team's unexpected elimination from the tournament. They feared that any mention of the soccer loss could provoke his anger, further complicating sensitive negotiations on defense spending.

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[Trump] has the reputation of reacting sometimes with some irritation to things that he doesn't like, and I think this defeat will have hurt him.

Instead, the allies focused on convincing Trump of their commitment to a "stronger, more European NATO." This involved a collective pledge for member nations to allocate 5% of their GDP to defense by 2035. The strategy of silence, however, was not entirely kept under wraps.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever publicly acknowledged the tactic, humorously noting that he would avoid discussing his country's victory over the U.S. "He has a reputation for reacting with irritation to things he doesn't like, and I think this defeat will have hurt him," De Wever quipped to journalists. Despite these efforts, Trump's earlier intervention to have a U.S. player's red card rescinded did not prevent the team's significant loss to Belgium.

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The leaders agreed not to mention football because it is evident that Trump is already in a bad mood about it.