MS NOW spent Wednesday picking apart a freewheeling news conference by President Donald Trump, as anchor Alicia Menendez pressed her guests on what to make of his closing remarks at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Menendez struggled to parse through Trump's remarks, telling panelists, "I'm going to try to work us through the weave and the side quests that we just heard from that president."
The anchor noted to NBC News correspondent Vaughn Hillyard that Trump praised Turkish President Recep Erdogan for running a great company, before quickly correcting himself.
"What did you take away from that press conference?" she asked.
Hillyard didn't hold back.
"I think we can objectively say that the incoherence in messaging and incoherence in strategy from the president of the United States continues to imperil not only the region but the United States and the global economy," he said.
He pointed to the whiplash on Iran's enriched uranium, with Trump insisting one moment that the stockpile sits buried too deep to reach, then suggesting the U.S. would take it eventually anyway. By then Trump had already declared the ceasefire over, disparaged Iran's leaders, floated seizing the oil hub of Kharg Island, and threatened fresh strikes within hours.
National security analyst David Rohde flagged a different contradiction. Trump opened by marveling at the affection in the room among NATO leaders, a day after he lashed out at European allies, which Rohde cast as evidence that foreign governments have learned to steer the president with flattery.
Rohde also questioned the war's logic. If the uranium is entombed and unreachable, he asked, "then why did he launch this war?" He called it Trump's familiar "bob and weave," even as Rohde noted that a dozen Americans have died and the Strait of Hormuz stays closed to shipping.
Trump also repeated his claim that he tops Iran's assassination list, and left reporters guessing why he was routing his Qatari-gifted jet to England rather than flying it home.
