The scattershot illogic of Donald Trump’s impeachment defense, and of his Presidency, was captured in his remarks on Tuesday, during a press appearance with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, of Canada, at the NATO summit, in London. First, Trump was asked why he wouldn’t permit a number of key witnesses, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to testify in the House Judiciary Committee’s proceedings. “Well, I would. I’d like them to testify,” Trump, who is fighting to defy a number of congressional subpoenas, replied. “But these are very unfair hearings.” As proof of the hearings’ unfairness, he listed the names of other people whom he would prefer to see testify: “We want Biden; we want the son, Hunter—where’s Hunter?—we want the son; we want Schiff.” By “Schiff,” he meant Representative Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and by “we” he meant either the House Republicans or his own lawyers; the terms have become interchangeable.

Pompeo and Mulvaney were among the officials seated in a row of chairs perpendicular to Trump and Trudeau, and the camera caught Pompeo’s fixed grin. Gesturing to his aides, Trump said, “I want them to testify, but I want them to testify in the Senate, where they’ll get a fair trial.” (Trump, of course, will be the one on trial in the Senate, if the House approves articles of impeachment—and the one counting on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to protect him there.)

“What do you want to learn from Adam Schiff’s testimony?” a reporter asked.

“From which?” Trump said, as if he hadn’t quite caught the name.

“From Adam Schiff.”

“I learn nothing from Adam Schiff,” Trump said, of the man whose testimony he had demanded less than a minute earlier. “I think he’s a maniac. I think Adam Schiff is a deranged human being. I think he grew up with a complex for lots of reasons that are obvious”—they’re not, actually—“I think he’s a very sick man. And he lies!”

These are Trump’s tactics: defy subpoenas (and try to justify doing so with wildly overreaching legal arguments); whine about the process; crudely insult anybody on the other side whose name you can remember; insist on loyalty from Republicans, then complain when you don’t get it and brag when you do. During the appearance with Trudeau, Trump claimed that, historically, Democrats had known better than Republicans how to “stick together.” But, for today’s Republicans, he said, “This whole impeachment hoax has been like glue! Because they know it’s a hoax, it’s a way of hurting the Republican Party.” Their complicity in the Trump Presidency will, no doubt, stick to them.

This was all going on, again, at a NATO summit, and Trump’s remarks on matters critical to the alliance were hardly more controlled. He also spoke to the press alongside President Emmanuel Macron, of France, and Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO. In an interview with The Economist last month, Macron had said that, because of a lack of strategic coördination and leadership, notably from the United States, “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO.” Trump was asked about those remarks in his appearance with Stoltenberg. “I think that’s very insulting,” he said, heedless of the numerous insults—“deadbeats,” “delinquent,” “obsolete”—that he himself has thrown at the alliance. “A very, very nasty statement.” He suggested an expanded trade war with France, then said that something might be worked out; mangled an answer about whether the United States has supported the protesters in Iran, and had to correct himself; was all over the map with regard to Turkey; and, when asked about the possibility that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un might engage in more nuclear tests, said, “He likes sending up rockets, doesn’t he? That’s why I call him Rocket Man!” Trump then told the assembled reporters and officials, “If I weren’t President, you’d be in a war right now in Asia.”

One of the concerns about Trump’s trip to London has been that he might get in the middle of the British general election, which will take place on December 12th. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has been warning that the Conservatives, under Boris Johnson, might allow Britain’s National Health Service to be put “on the table” or even “up for sale” in a future post-Brexit free-trade deal with the United States. Trump, asked about those concerns in his appearance with Stoltenberg, said, “I don’t even know where that rumor started.” He seemed to be forgetting his own comments on the subject, in June, which were careless enough to cause an uproar throughout the United Kingdom. (In reality, any U.S. interest appears to involve access to the pharmaceutical market rather than any takeover of the N.H.S. itself.) Trump added, “If you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it.” The N.H.S., after all, is no Greenland.

Pressed for more thoughts on Corbyn, Trump said, “I know nothing about the gentleman. Really—Jeremy Corbyn—know nothing about him.” (He also said, in answer to a question about the Royal Family and the Jeffrey Epstein case, “I don’t know Prince Andrew, but it’s a tough story.”) Yet Trump kept coming back to his own troubles. “The impeachment is going nowhere,” he said. “It is a waste of time. They’re wasting their time. It’s a disgrace! A disgrace to our country.” He said that he wouldn’t watch the next round of hearings. There was so much to do in London. That afternoon, he and the First Lady had tea with Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and then, in the evening, they got to see the Queen. He posed for a group picture with the monarch and the other NATO leaders, and smiled.