Europe’s Daddy Issues
NATO chief Mark Rutte this week praised Donald Trump for talking tough to Iran and Israel, publicly commenting, “Daddy sometimes has to use strong language.” Rutte’s fawning is a cringeworthy display of European subservience to Trump.
President Donald Trump and NATO secretary general Mark Rutte speak to media at the start of the second day of the 2025 NATO Summit on June 25, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Donald Trump and former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte sat down for a press conference at the NATO summit in The Hague.
Asked about the ongoing war between Israel and Iran — a conflict that, despite his promises of peace and isolationism, Trump himself dragged the United States into — the president expressed his thoughts in characteristically inappropriate terms: “They’ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard. They fight like hell; you can’t stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it’s easier to stop them.”
Usually whichever world leader happens to sit next to Trump just listens. Sometimes they force a smile, steal a concerned or confused glance at the cameras, or put on a poker face to try to hide their disbelief at the situation.
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