US allies apprehensive after capricious Trump changes tune at Nato summit

Sudden shift may be linked to affinity for Erdoğan but what might be consequences of erratic behavior towards alliance?

Donald Trump’s relationship with Washington’s Nato allies is nobody’s idea of a happy marriage.

But the US president’s volatile performance at the western military alliance’s annual summit in Ankara this week seemed extreme, even by Trumpian standards. As commentators sought toexplain what happened, their usually capacious stock of Trump-fitting cliches was at risk of exhaustion.