Is President Donald Trump the father figure that the perpetually quarreling Iranians and Israelis need?
At least one top North Atlantic Treaty Organization figure apparently thinks so — even bizarrely referring to the U.S. president as “daddy” as part of an analogy describing Trump’s role in deescalating the Middle Eastern conflict.
Seriously.
And you can check it our for yourself below:
‘Sometimes daddy has to use strong language.’
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte referred to US President Donald Trump as ‘daddy’ when discussing the Israel-Iran conflict at the summit in The Hague. pic.twitter.com/Ep6GhQ63HX
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 25, 2025
“They’re not going to be fighting each other [much longer],” Trump said of Israel and Iran at a NATO summit Wednesday. “They’ve had it. They’ve had a big 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 easy to stop them.”
So far, so good, with Trump using a simple analogy that — sometimes — you do have to let a little pent-up aggression out before making a bigger move towards peace.
Do you approve of how Trump has handled the Iran-Israel conflict?
It’s at this point, however, that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte took things in a bit of a more awkward direction.
“And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language,” Rutte added, pumping his fist as if to highlight the father’s strong hand.
Trump, who seemed nonplussed by the odd nickname, continued unfazed: “You have to use strong language. Every once in a while, you have to use a certain word.”
(Rutte heartily chuckled at that one.)
Later, Trump did broach the odd nickname — and largely had fun with it:
.@POTUS reacts to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte calling him “Daddy”:
“I think he likes me…He did it very affectionately.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/c4Eha4pkVP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025
Trump was effectively asked if he considers his NATO allies as his “children,” to which the president brought up Rutte and his nickname.
“No, [Rutte] likes me. I think he likes me,” Trump said to laughter. “If he doesn’t, I’ll let you know. I’ll come back, and I’ll hit him hard, OK? He did it very affectionately.”
The ongoing Israeli-Iranian conflict has become the defining issue of Trump’s second term so far, with his base deeply split on what the correct course of action is with regards to this conflict.
The isolationist wing of MAGA desperately wants to avoid any long-term foreign entanglements that will cost a fortune — if not lives — in the Middle East.
The pro-Israel wing of MAGA, meanwhile, is utterly insistent that the threat a nuclear Iran presents to the world is an existential one that must be addressed forcefully and swiftly.
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