Mark Rutte, from strangling southern Europe to the most humiliating servility to Trump

BrusselsThe image that Mark Rutte (The Hague, 1967) built as Prime Minister of the Netherlands is that of an ordinary, simple and without any kind of luxuryHe would cycle to work and, before entering the government headquarters in The Hague like any other office worker, he would always greet the press with his trademark friendliness, as affected as it was hilarious.

His defining characteristic as a political leader was economic austerity taken to the extreme. He also liked to portray himself as a great guarantor of the efficient use of public money and, for example, would arrive at European summits with an apple as a symbol of frugality. It was then that he was nicknamed Mr. No. To anything that involved more public investment, more European Union, and greater collaboration between Member States, the longest-serving leader of the Netherlands in history always had the monosyllable ready: "No."

But now he seems to have forgotten those days when he did everything possible to prevent the southern countries of the continent from spending a single euro more, which he helped condemn to cuts and a long recession. He no longer arrives at NATO headquarters in Brussels by bike or reaches summits eating apples. He has gone from being one of the great scourges of expansionary economic policies and against fiscal space to being Donald Trump's essential accomplice in the Atlantic Alliance.

Without his invaluable loyalty to the New York tycoon, the Pentagon would not have been able to so easily impose the huge increase in public spending on its European allies, nor would it have pushed them to carry out the largest rearmament since the Cold War. Within ten years, states must allocate 5% of their gross domestic product, three percentage points more than the average recorded by EU countries that are also members of NATO.

Rutte's servility to Trump is evident in almost every public appearance he makes in which he refers to the United States, which controls de facto the Atlantic Alliance. However, some private messages The messages the US president published this Tuesday made it even clearer how subservient the Dutchman is to the interests of the White House. "Donald, you have led us to a truly momentous moment for America and Europe. You will accomplish something no other American president in decades could have achieved," he wrote.

However, Trump doesn't need to publish a private conversation with him to see how far Rutte is willing to go. The most surreal moment came when the NATO chief referred to the US president as "daddy"[Daddy] in a conversation during the summit, in which he said that sometimes he "has to raise his voice" to mediate in conflicts like the one between Iran and Israel. However, the New York tycoon didn't quite understand why he had called him "Daddy" and thought it had an erotic double meaning. "I think he likes me. [...] I'm going to fuck him hard," he replied.

A great soap-maker

It doesn't matter if it's Trump's snobbish rhetoric or the threats he throws out left, right, and center, to friends and strangers alike. Rutte never lets him down. He always plays down his words. One of the most exaggerated cases was when the New York magnate hinted that he would invade Greenland, which belongs to the state of Denmark. Despite one NATO ally threatening the sovereignty of another, the Dutch leader simply said that Trump was simply concerned about Arctic security and that, in terms of defense, "he is often right."

The reaction is similar when Rutte is asked if he fears the Republican administration's lack of commitment to NATO. The US president constantly questions whether it is willing to comply with Article 5 of the Alliance treaties, which states that an attack on an ally constitutes an attack on the global military understanding and, therefore, all partners must help it defend itself. In fact, this is NATO's main raison d'être, which is intended above all to be a deterrent. However, when the press raises the issue, the Dutch leader always soaps Trump up a bit and then responds that the Pentagon remains "fully committed" to the Alliance.

NATO diplomatic sources attempt to defend this stance, asserting that it is forced to balance the interests of European allies with Trump's egotistical personality. However, they also question whether saving the Atlantic Alliance and acting as a pivot between the two continents requires such levels of blind loyalty and servitude.