From the moment Air Force One touched down in Ankara, the Trump NATO summit became less about the alliance and more about the man at its center. When President Trump arrived in Turkey on Tuesday, the entire gathering seemed to reorient around him, exactly where he prefers to be.

A Welcome Fit for a King

Trump’s arrival was nothing short of theatrical. Stepping off his plane in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon, he was met with an extravagant reception that observers compared only to the welcome the pope received during his visit to Turkey late last year.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally greeted Trump on the tarmac, a gesture he extended to none of the more than 30 other world leaders who had traveled to Ankara for the NATO summit. The scene was elaborate: dozens of Turks on horseback accompanied the greeting, a band played “The Star-Spangled Banner,” cannons fired, and fighter jets streaked low overhead, trailing red, white, and blue smoke.

The symbolism was hard to miss. The moment Trump landed on his Qatari-gifted jumbo jet, the summit’s center of gravity shifted decisively toward him.

Sucking the Oxygen Out of the Room

Fellow attendees openly acknowledged Trump’s outsized presence. Senator Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, remarked at a reception on the sidelines that Trump takes all the oxygen out of the room for everyone else, adding that he was “bigger than life” at the event.

That larger-than-life quality has long defined Trump’s approach to the world stage, and this summit was no exception. His distinctive governing style guaranteed a spectacle, and the drama began even before he set foot in Turkey.

Drama Before Arrival

Trump had already stirred controversy in the lead-up to the summit. Last month, he suggested he would only endure the 10-hour flight because the event was being hosted by his friend Erdogan.

Then came an unusual sports intervention. The previous week, Trump called the head of FIFA to request a review of the red card issued to the United States’ top scorer during the World Cup. The player was ultimately reinstated for the match against Belgium, a decision that sparked outrage in Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union and home to NATO’s headquarters.

The Feud With Meloni

Perhaps the most personal conflict hanging over the summit was Trump’s clash with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who until recently had been one of Europe’s most Trump-aligned leaders. The president had been needling her over her refusal to allow Italy to be pulled into the war against Iran.

The dispute played out dramatically in the Italian press, where Trump dominated front pages for weeks. One right-leaning newspaper ran a headline using a vulgar Italian insult aimed squarely at the president.

The tension peaked over the weekend when Trump posted a doctored image of Meloni gazing longingly at him, captioned with the words “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.” The stunt only added to the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding this year’s summit.

Fresh Provocations Inside the Summit

Once he arrived, Trump wasted no time generating new controversy. Seated beside Erdogan during a bilateral meeting at the Turkish presidential complex, he launched into a series of pointed remarks.

He criticized Denmark and reiterated his lingering ambitions regarding Greenland. He complained that Britain, France, and Italy had not done enough to support the United States in its war against Iran. He claimed Europe had been in far better shape 20 years earlier. And he addressed his feud with Meloni in a notably relaxed tone.

Downplaying the quarrel that had generated so much international anxiety, Trump described Meloni as a nice person and insisted he had not put a heavy press on her.

When asked about the “restraining order” post, Senator Rounds offered a measured response, noting there were many ways of communicating and declining to comment on everything the president says. Instead, he said he preferred to judge Trump by his actions, crediting the president’s approach with delivering results, particularly higher defense spending among NATO countries.

A Party Without Alcohol

The atmosphere off the summit floor reflected the unusual setting. Rounds made his remarks at a tented reception thrown by the Atlantic Council, a pro-NATO think tank, at the Ankara Palas, a former state guesthouse that Erdogan had converted into a presidential museum.

The gathering was a somewhat stiff affair. Like many events during the week, no alcohol was served, as it is prohibited in government buildings under Erdogan’s conservative Muslim administration.

The crowd, a mix of arms dealers, American Embassy staff, European diplomats, and Turkish officials, gathered to debate the finer points of transatlantic relations. Yet as always, Trump loomed over the proceedings, the unavoidable presence in every conversation.

Acknowledging the Tensions

The strain among allies did not go unmentioned. Jenna Ben-Yehuda, an Atlantic Council executive, acknowledged in a speech that the path to the summit had not been easy, referring to the honest and tough conversations taking place between allies.

Meanwhile, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, described her mission at the summit as reassuring European partners that Congress remains committed to NATO, regardless of the drama the president might stir up. Her message carried a pointed subtext: even as Trump floats the idea of withdrawing from the alliance, he cannot do so without congressional approval.

Shaheen, who is retiring after three terms, framed the moment in historical terms. Marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, she noted that the colonists had deliberately written the Constitution to avoid creating a king, opting instead for a government answerable to the people. That, she said, was the reminder she had come to deliver.

The Bigger Picture

The Ankara summit captured the peculiar dynamic that has come to define Trump’s presence on the world stage. Amid genuine debates over defense spending, the war with Iran, and the future of the transatlantic alliance, the president’s personality repeatedly took center stage, from the lavish welcome to the public feuds and off-the-cuff provocations.

For America’s allies, the challenge remains balancing the theatrics with the substance. As Shaheen’s remarks suggested, institutions and constitutional guardrails endure beyond any single leader’s flair for spectacle. But for this week at least, in Ankara, the show clearly belonged to Trump.