Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, World News, Social Media, US News
This year's NATO summit shaped up to be a pretty eventful one as boss Mark Rutte went viral for calling Donald Trump 'daddy', with Trump now giving his two cents on the comment.
If you’re not in the loop, the odd relationship between the Dutch NATO boss, 58, and the American president, 79, has been thrust into the spotlight in the last few days.
The viral discourse began when the pair sat down together to speak to reporters at the latest summit in The Hague.
While talking about the conflict between Iran and Israel, who have now entered a ceasefire, the Republican leader compared the countries to bickering children.
Advert
Trump said: “They fight like two kids in a schoolyard, you know, they fight like hell - you can’t stop them. Let them fight for about two or three minutes then it’s easier to stop them.”
And if that wasn’t strange enough, Rutte then added to the weird conversation by saying: "And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop.”
Seemingly taken aback by his bizarre new nickname, Trump laughed: “Strong language, every now and then you have to use a certain word”.
And now, in another press conference broadcast live by CNN, the world leader has publicly given his thoughts on the new ‘daddy’ moniker.
Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes asked the president: “Mark Rutte, the NATO chief who is your friend, he called you daddy earlier. Do you regard your NATO allies as children?”
Trump smiled as he replied: “No, he likes me. I think he likes me.”
He pondered for a moment before joking: “If he doesn’t I’ll let you know, I’ll come back and I’ll hit him hard, okay.”
Trump then concluded the offbeat response by adding: “He did it very affectionately, daddy, you're my daddy.”
Watch for yourself here:
Social media users on Twitter have reacted to the ‘bizarre moment’ and questioned: "What is this weird s***??"
One person wrote: “It’s weird that the NATO chief called Trump Daddy but I guess it’s nice that he finally acknowledged it.”
And a second questioned: “Has the NATO countries lost their self-respect, or is there something going on behind the scenes?”
Meanwhile, a third unhappy social media user added: “The NATO chief called Trump “daddy” and Trump took it as a compliment. We’re not in a strategy meeting anymore, we’re in a bad improv scene. If this is how alliances work now, someone please cue the exit music.”
Referring to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s reaction, which could be seen in the background, another person penned: “Rubio is so embarrassed”.
Just one day before the whole ‘daddy’ moment occurred, on Tuesday (24 June) Trump leaked a lengthy and gushing text message he’d received from Rutte after the summit, which NATO has since confirmed to be real.
The text read: “Mr President, dear Donald. Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.
“You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening. It was not easy but we’ve got them all signed onto 5 percent!”
It continued: “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win”.
He then simply signs off the message with: “Safe travels and see you at His Majesty’s dinner!"
