Nato Chief Calls Trump ‘daddy’

THE HAGUE — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte surprised reporters Wednesday by calling President Donald Trump “Daddy,” a moment of levity in a serious NATO summit.

As the two leaders greeted each other before reporters ahead of meetings, Trump drew a question about the profanity he used a day earlier to chastise both Israel and Iran for violating a recently brokered ceasefire, and his comparing them to unruly children. “They've had a big fight, like two kids in a school yard. They fight like hell, you can't stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it's easier to stop them,” Trump said in a press appearance alongside Rutte, echoing language he has used to describe Ukraine and Russia.

Rutte took the fighting kids analogy a bit further: “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.”

Trump didn’t seem to mind Rutte’s use of the term, which has become slang to denote power and control in relationships. “I think he likes me. ‘Daddy, you’re my daddy,’” Trump said later Wednesday with a grin, drawing laughter from the international press corps and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “He did it very affectionately.”

The back and forth at the NATO summit showed a growing rapport between Trump and the former Dutch prime minister, now nine months into his tenure as NATO’s top diplomat. And it encapsulated Rutte’s broader approach to the president, leaning heavily into public and private flattery.

Rutte, long seen as a pragmatic Atlanticist, appeared to be walking a careful line. His comment signaled both a recognition of Trump’s outsize influence and a tactical nod to the president’s desire to be publicly acknowledged as the driving force behind both the ceasefire between Iran and Israel and NATO’s renewed military commitments. NATO allies on Wednesday announced they have agreed to a new defense spending requirement of 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035, more than double the previous 2 percent benchmark.

“I think they need help a little bit at the beginning,” Trump said of NATO countries working toward the new goal. “And I think they're going to remember this day. This was a big day for NATO.”

When asked whether the alliance could have landed the deal without Trump pushing for it, the president deferred to Rutte: “Well, ask Mark. I think you have to ask Mark.”

Rutte, who was asked at his own press conference if calling Trump “daddy” signified weakness, said the phrasing was “a matter of taste” while asserting that he does, in fact, deserve immense credit for the adoption of the new spending goals.

But some European officials grumbled privately about the slavish display toward Trump. “People are so embarrassed,” said one European official, who was granted anonymity to describe the tenor of their conversations with colleagues. “Yes, the summit was a success on the whole. But the sucking up was pretty over the top.”