Photo: Alamy
During President Trump’s successful trip to the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte made a comment that unwittingly sparked a funny but on-the-nose publicity campaign highlighting the president’s strong leadership role on the global stage.
This week, Rutte sat down for a conversation with the president, in which the two discussed the remarkable ceasefire agreement secured by President Trump between Iran and Israel.
“They had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard…let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it’s easier to stop them,” Trump said initially.
Rutte remarked, “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language.”
This drew some chuckles from people in the room, but the term “daddy” came up yet again when President Trump took questions from the press, eliciting laughter from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was standing beside him onstage.
A reporter asked about the “daddy” terminology, and whether Trump regarded his NATO allies as “children.”
“I think he likes me,” Trump remarked, referring to Rutte. “If he doesn’t, I’ll let you know. I’ll come back and I’ll hit him hard.”
During the summit, the NATO Secretary General was confronted by the media about his comments, with a reporter suggesting it was “demeaning” for Rutte to praise Trump and jokingly refer to him as a “daddy” who deals with unruly children on the global stage.
“Doesn’t he deserve some praise?” Rutte said, noting Trump’s accomplishments not just at NATO but also amid the United States’ leadership on the Iran-Israel issue.
Hours later, the official White House X account released a video highlighting the best moments of Trump’s trip to the NATO Summit, set facetiously to Usher’s “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”:
As if that wasn’t enough, the Trump War Room account also shared a link to a fundraising “Trump Daddy” shirt benefiting the Trump National Committee JFC, leaning in hard to the comical trend.