At the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, Secretary General Mark Rutte drew laughs—and raised eyebrows—by likening President Donald Trump to a “daddy” stepping into a chaotic schoolyard fight, after Trump again unleashed sharp language toward both Israel and Iran.
Standing beside Trump during a press briefing, Rutte responded with humor to the president’s colorful analogy of the Middle East conflict.
“They’ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard,” Trump said, referring to Israel and Iran. “You know, they fight like hell, you can’t stop them. Let them fight for about two or three minutes, then it’s easy to stop them.”
Rutte chuckled before adding: “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get them to stop.”
The exchange followed Trump’s Tuesday outburst, in which he said of the warring nations: “They’ve been fighting so long and so hard, they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”
The comment came just after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, and triggered a wave of reactions across diplomatic circles, underscoring Trump’s continued use of blunt, unapologetic rhetoric even in the most delicate of geopolitical contexts.
“Doesn’t He Deserve Praise?”
With NATO leaders working to placate Trump amid his ongoing complaints that the alliance is too dependent on U.S. resources, Rutte was pressed by reporters on whether his tone toward the American president bordered on flattery.
Rutte pushed back: “No, I don’t think so. I think it’s a matter of taste,” he said, calling Trump a “good friend” and crediting him for finally pushing European allies to raise defense spending.
“So doesn’t he deserve some praise?” Rutte asked rhetorically, pointing also to Trump’s military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. “The fact that he took this decisive, very targeted action to make sure Iran would not get its hands on nuclear capability—I think he deserves all the praise.”
Trump Compares Strike on Iran to Hiroshima
Trump, in turn, doubled down on the gravity of the recent bombing campaign, drawing a controversial parallel 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,” he said. “But that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war. This ended the war.”
Later asked about Rutte’s “daddy” comment, Trump appeared amused and unbothered.
“He did it very affectionately,” the president said with a grin. “Daddy. You’re my daddy.”