NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte revealed whether he still considers Donald Trump “daddy” while the U.S. looks to pull out of the long-standing alliance.
On Thursday, Rutte was asked for his views on Trump a day after the president took to Truth Social and targeted NATO as a “paper tiger” for not assisting with his struggles with the Strait of Hormuz. Rutte laughed off his comments from last summer with a quick explanation.
“On the daddy thing, this is a language problem I have to explain to you. It follows me a little bit, I can assure you,” Rutte said. “We had a sort of pre-summit meeting, the president and I, in June in the Hague, and he had been very angry that day with Iran and with Israel. This was in June last year. And in Dutch you would say, hey — the translation of your father is ‘daddy’ — and I would say, I said, ‘Hey, sometimes daddy has to be angry.’”
He continued: “So, I was not calling him my daddy. But of course, ‘daddy’ has also a special connotation, and I now have to live with this the rest of my life! And I own it and the president owns it because he brought out T-shirts. He made a movie, “Daddy’s Home.” It is so funny. This is part of why I like him so much. We make mistakes, and this is when you are not a native speaker. Sorry for that.”
Rutte made headlines last summer when he commented on Trump’s expletive-laced viral clip where he shouted Iran did not “know what the f–k they’re doing.” This was back in June 2025 when Rutte made his viral comment.
“Sometimes, daddy has to use strong words,” he said, sitting next to Trump at the NATO Summit in Europe.
To the surprise of nobody, Trump was clearly tickled by the line and later recalled it later during an interview.
“NATO calls me ‘Daddy,’” he remembered excitedly.
It seems like the sentiment may be different as Trump continues to pressure NATO and threaten to pull from the alliance altogether as his war in the Middle East continues.
