Donald Trump's NATO Summit Shove

Overview

Donald Trump's NATO Summit Shove refers to video from the 2017 NATO summit in Brussels, BE, in which President Donald Trump appears to shove Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic to get to his assigned spot in a photograph.

Background

On May 25th, 2017, President Trump met with European Union leaders and NATO members to discuss the future of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). As leaders lined up for a photograph, Trump, who already had a tenuous relationship with the organization because of his “America first” policies and statements that some NATO countries were paying less than America, appeared to push Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic to get to his assigned spot in the photograph.^[1]

Developments

One of the earliest to point out the shove, Twitter user @SteveKoback posted a video of the incident to Twitter with the caption “Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?“ Within 36 hours, the post (shown below) received more than 62,000 retweets an 79,100 likes.^[2]

Prime Minister Markovic responded to the reaction to the shove. He said, "It didn't really register. I just saw reactions about it on social networks. It is simply a harmless situation. It is natural that the president of the United States is in the front row.”^[13]

The Associated Press also noted that Trump was assigned to stand in the front row of the picture.

Online Reaction

On Twitter, people came to the general consensus that Trump appears to have shoved Markovic. Twitter user @20committee^[3] tweeted, “So in ONE DAY, Trump managed to: Shove Montenegro's PM. Tell NATO it's over. Call Germany "evil, very evil" & threaten trade war w/EU.” The post (shown below, left) received more than 5,300 retweets and 6,900 likes in 24 hours.

User @esheikh_ tweeted the video with the caption, Trump just shove #NATO leader to be in the front of the group. Days without being a National embarrassment = 0.” The post (shown below, right) received more than 360 retweets and 500 likes.

That day, President Barack Obama’s presidential photograph Pete Souza^[5] posted a photograph of Obama at the 2012 NATO summit, in which the former president happily meets with smiling world leaders, with the caption “Laughter at the 2012 NATO Summit. No jostling involved.” The post (shown below) received more than 108,000 likes and 2,300 comments.

On Reddit that day, a gif of the alleged shoving appeared on two subreddits, /r/cringpics,^[6] where it received more than 62,000 points (69% upvoted) and 6,700 comments, and /r/gifs,^[7] where it received more than 64,000 points (72% upvoted) and 7,100 comments. Video of the shove also appeared in /r/cringe,^[8] garnering more than 5,300 points (78% upvoted) and 900 comments. In the /r/The_Donald subreddit, Redditor Ban_Solo^[9] posted the original tweet to the thread “Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group? ALPHA AS FUCK!” The post received more than 1,900 points (94% upvoted) and 100 comments.

News Coverage

Several news outlets covered the alleged shove and its subsequent reaction, including The New York Times,^[1] New York Magazine,^[10] HuffPo,^[11] The Washington Post,^[12] and more.

Search Interest

External References