Rutte's 'daddy' to Trump and the other great moments of the NATO summit

HagueIt is one of the most important NATO summits in recent years. A decade later, the decision was made in The Hague to increase the minimum military spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), three percentage points higher than the previous target. This is the first NATO meeting since the return of Donald Trump and Mark Rutte as Secretary General of the military entity. This relationship, in fact, has produced notable moments such as the relegation of Volodymyr Zelensky to the background, a more solitary Pedro Sánchez, and the New York tycoon's usual stretch-bots.

Trump on Rutte calling him 'daddy': "I'll hit him hard."

Rutte's praise for Trump has reached surreal levels, to the point where he has referred to the US president as dadio. daddy "Sometimes he has to use strong language to get them to stop," the Dutchman said, referring to the US mediation to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The New York tycoon's response, however, was even more surprising because he understood it in a sexual sense. "I think he likes me between the [laughter.

Trump publishes a private conversation with Rutte

The US president posted a private conversation on his social media platform, Truth Social, with the NATO Secretary General. In these messages, which were initially intended to be private, the Dutchman shows great admiration for Trump and the supposed milestones he has achieved. "Europe will pay big, as it should, and it will be your victory," Rutte tells him. "Donald, you have led us to a truly important moment for America and Europe. You will achieve something no other American president in decades could have achieved," read another message.

The only guest leader in the royal palace

The Trump-fueled sympathies of the meeting's host, Mark Rutte, former prime minister of the Netherlands, have extended beyond NATO, and the New York tycoon was the only leader traveling to The Hague for the summit to be invited to spend the night at Queen Máxima's Huis ten Bosch palace. Located in a forest near The Hague, the palace hosted the dinner for the 32 leaders on the first night of the summit, but Trump was the only one who stayed overnight afterward. The US president was scheduled to stay at an elegant hotel in the city of Noordwijk, on the Dutch North Sea coast, but changed his mind when he received an invitation from King Willem-Alexander himself. "This is a historic event: it is the first time that an American president will stay at the king's residence," the White House said.

A lonely Sánchez

Sánchez has told the press that he has never avoided contact with any NATO leader, much less with the President of the United States. However, the Spanish Prime Minister has appeared more isolated than ever at this type of international meeting: slightly removed in the family photo of leaders and not speaking to anyone in the moments before the main meeting, precisely the moment when the leaders take the opportunity to exchange a few words. He has also become the target of criticism from a significant portion of his counterparts, although sources from the Moncloa assure that behind closed doors everything has gone smoothly and no one has reproached him. On the contrary, the Spanish government claims that Latvia has even thanked him for the presence of Spanish soldiers on its territory.

Zelensky, cornered

With Trump's return to the White House, Zelensky and Ukraine have ceased to be NATO's focus. This became clear at this summit. The Ukrainian president did not participate in any formal meetings other than bilateral ones, and the working group between the NATO and Ukraine was downgraded to a ministerial level, although Trump ultimately met informally with Zelensky. Furthermore, the Allies removed from NATO's conclusions the assertion that Ukraine's "path" within the Alliance is "irreversible," as they had agreed last year.

It's Spain's turn to receive

It was a matter of hours. Sánchez was The only leader who publicly opposes Trump's pace of military spending increases And, although it was expected at the last press conference, the US president has not forgiven him. "We will make [Spain] pay double," the New York magnate said at a press conference. He then threatened the Moncloa government with collecting what Madrid refuses to allocate to defense through US-Spain trade relations. "Their economy could be shattered if something serious were to happen," he warned.