Mark Rutte, who has been Secretary General of NATO since October 2024, referred to Donald Trump as “Daddy” when he praised the US President’s approach to the Iran-Israel ceasefire
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has been forced to backtrack on an embarrassing remark – where he appeared to call US president Donald Trump “Daddy”.
The politician backed Mr Trump when the world leader swore on live TV in a rant about the Iran-Israel ceasefire. Cameras caught the moment Mr Trump said, during a meeting of the defence bloc in the Hague, The Netherlands: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
But Mr Rutte, 58, said: “Daddy has to use strong language”, to which Mr Trump agreed. This comment raised eyebrows across the world, with many expressing concerns about the Secretary General’s impartiality. Critics said it undermined NATO’s credibility and highlighted a deeper shift in the alliance’s power dynamics.
Mr Rutte, who was Prime Minister of the Netherlands for 14 years, has since denied calling the President “Daddy”. He told reporters: “The daddy thing, I didn’t call [Trump] daddy, what I said, is that sometimes… In Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, ‘hey, Mark, will the US stay with us?’
“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 use daddy, not that I was calling President Trump daddy.”
Howver, during a press conference yesterday, a reporter asked Mr Trump if he enjoyed being called “Daddy” by the NATO chief. Smiling, the Republican President said: “No, he likes me, I think he likes me. If he doesn’t I’ll let you know and I’ll come back and I’ll hit him hard, OK?… He did it very affectionately though. ‘Daddy, you’re my daddy.'”
Sky News and other broadcasters were forced to issue on-air apologies after Mr Trump, 79, dropped the F-bomb in the exchange yesterday. The concerning rant came when Mr Trump was quizzed by reporters on claims Israel and Iran had violated the ceasefire he had announced had been reached.
Mr Trump, who previously mouthed the F-word at a campaign rally in 2016 and used the word “bullsh**” while making a briefing room appearance earlier this year, said he believed the Iran-Israel ceasefire will hold. He added: “They’re not going to be fighting each other, they’ve had it… Like two kids in the schoolyard, they fight like hell, you can’t stop them. Let them fight for two or three minutes then it’s easy to stop them.”
The NATO summit wrapped up on Wednesday. Air Force One took off from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol shortly before 6pm local time to take Mr Trump back to Washington DC.