NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte clarified on Wednesday that he did not call US President Donald Trump “daddy,” despite media reports suggesting otherwise. The confusion started after Rutte made a comment during a press conference at the NATO summit, where Trump spoke about the escalation between Iran and Israel.
In an interview with Reuters, Rutte explained the context. He said, “And I said, that sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, ‘Hey, are you still staying with the family?’ So, in that sense, I used ‘daddy,’ not that I was calling President Trump daddy.”
This came as Trump compared the Israel-Iran conflict to two children fighting in a schoolyard. “They’ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard. You know, they fight like hell, you can’t stop them. Let them fight for about 2–3 minutes, then it’s easy to stop them,” Trump said, standing next to Rutte at the summit.
Rutte responded with a smile, adding: “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop.” Many interpreted it as Rutte referring to Trump as “daddy.”
RUTTE PRAISES TRUMP’S DECISIVE ROLE IN MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
When asked if he was overpraising Trump to keep him happy amid ongoing complaints about NATO’s dependence on US support, Rutte said he didn’t think so. “I think it’s a bit of a question of taste,” he remarked. Rutte called Trump a “good friend” of more than ten years and credited him with pushing NATO countries to increase their military spending.
“So doesn’t he deserve some praise?” Rutte asked. He also supported Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, saying it was a necessary step. “The fact that he took this decisive action, very targeted, to make sure that Iran would not be able to get his hands on a nuclear capability—I think he deserves all the praise,” he said.
Earlier in the week, after a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Iran, Trump had made headlines with his blunt remark: “They’ve been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
TRUMP RESPONDS TO ‘DADDY’ REMARK WITH HUMOR
When asked about Rutte’s choice of words, Trump reacted: “He did it very affectionately,” the president said. “‘Daddy, you’re my daddy,” the comment drew laughter amongst reporters.
Trump also compared his strike on Iran’s nuclear sites to the end of World War II. “I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war. This ended the war,” he said.
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