NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte sought to clarify an eyebrow-raising comment he made during a bilateral news conference with President Trump on Wednesday: He doesn’t consider the U.S. leader “daddy” and was making a reference in jest.
“The daddy thing, I didn’t call him ‘daddy,'” Rutte told reporters later in the day. “What I said is that sometimes, in Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, ‘Hey, Mark, will the U.S. stay with us?’ And I said that sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, ‘Hey, are you still staying with the family?’ So in that sense, I used ‘daddy’ — not that I was calling President Trump daddy.”
Rutte drew attention — and jokes from Trump — after he invoked the word “daddy” while describing the president’s response to Israel and Iran’s military conflict.
“Sometimes daddy needs to use strong language,” Rutte said with a laugh, referring to Trump using the f-word to rebuke the Middle Eastern countries on Tuesday.
Trump laughed off the remark during a later news conference.
“He did it very affectionately though, ‘Daddy, you’re my daddy,'” Trump said, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio chuckled behind him.
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