Trump Just Revealed The Real Reason He’s Betting On NATO’s Most Difficult Ally

Turkey bought a Russian missile system and got kicked out of America's stealth fighter program.

Seven years later Donald Trump is calling that same country's leader a trusted friend.

Trump just told reporters the one reason he even showed up in Ankara.

Trump Says He's Only In Ankara Because Of One Man

Trump landed in Turkey for the NATO summit this week and didn't pretend otherwise.

"I'm going because of Erdoğan," Trump told reporters, adding that he sees the Turkish president as a respected friend and ally.

That's not a normal thing for an American president to say about the leader of a NATO country that spent years on Washington's naughty list.

Turkey took delivery of Russia's S-400 air defense system back in 2019.

Turkey got booted from the F-35 program that same year, and by December 2020 Washington had hit Turkey's defense procurement agency with sanctions too.

Now Trump is treating Erdoğan like an old friend, and the arms deals are flowing again.

Why Turkey Suddenly Matters More Than Democrats Want To Admit

Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey says the relationship runs deeper than friendship – Turkey is one of the administration's most important partners on the map.

He's not wrong about the math.

Only the U.S. fields a bigger NATO army than Turkey, and Ankara controls the narrow waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean while sharing borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Jeffrey argued Turkey has been essential to keeping Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

Ankara's enforcement of the 1936 Montreux Convention has kept Russian warships bottled up and out of the Black Sea since the invasion began.

Turkey started arming Ukraine with Bayraktar drones early in the war, back when several European governments were still tiptoeing around calling it an invasion.

The collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime also cost Iran one of its biggest regional footholds, and Jeffrey credits that loss almost entirely to Erdogan's maneuvering behind the scenes.

That's the version of this story Democrats and the DC foreign policy blob don't want on the front page.

The $700 Million Question Democrats Can't Get Past

Not everyone in Washington sees a strategic bet.

Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says the State Department still hasn't explained the $700 million jet engine sale or addressed Turkey's Russian S-400 problem.

Even some conservative voices want the brakes pumped on going any further than that.

The Washington Examiner's editorial board doesn't think Trump should go that far, warning that handing Erdogan F-35s while the S-400 sits on Turkish soil would be a major strategic blunder.

Sinan Ciddi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies has been even blunter about who Erdoğan really is.

Ciddi argues Turkey is the only NATO member that has also sought membership in China and Russia-led blocs like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, all while lobbying Washington for access to America's most advanced fighter jet technology.

Ciddi's read is simple: right now, Congress is the only real obstacle standing between Erdogan and everything he wants.

Why Trump Isn't Backing Down

This is where the Trump doctrine actually makes sense if you strip away the outrage.

Trump isn't handing Erdoğan the keys to the F-35 program.

Jeffrey draws a clear line between the two: swapping in American jet engines is a manageable ask, but readmitting Turkey to the F-35 program runs into a genuine security problem, not just a political fight, since flying the S-400 that close to America's stealthiest jet risks leaking secrets straight to Moscow.

What Trump is doing is refusing to let old grudges blind him to where American power actually needs friends right now.

Russia is still grinding away at Ukraine.

Iran is still reeling from losing Syria.

The Middle East is one bad week away from another crisis.

In that world, a NATO ally that controls the Black Sea chokepoint and fields the alliance's second-biggest army isn't a luxury Washington can afford to snub over a decade-old grudge.

Democrats want to relitigate 2019 forever.

Trump is playing the board as it exists today, and the Turkish troublemaker of yesterday just became one of the most strategically important seats at the table.

Sources:

• Morgan Phillips, "Trump bets on former NATO troublemaker as Turkey's strategic value surges," Fox News, July 6, 2026.
• Bradley Bowman and Sinan Ciddi, "Why Congress Must Block Any F-35 Transfer to Turkey," Foundation for Defense of Democracies, September 25, 2025.
• Washington Examiner Editorial Board, "Erdogan's Turkey is no place for the F-35," Washington Examiner, June 28, 2026.