Observers are questioning European leaders' recent tactic of “taming” President Donald Trump with “obsequiousness.”
Trump visited NATO at the Hague this week to discuss defense spending and was met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte showering him with compliments over bombing Iran and referring to him as ‘daddy’.
Guardian senior news writer Esther Addley said the tone of Rutte’s “public bootlicking” was muted compared to text messages he’d sent “dear Donald” prior to the summit: “Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, it was truly extraordinary … you will achieve something no president in decades could get done.”
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Addley notes Trump immediately leaked Rutte’s letter to the press, saying “I think he likes me,” with a smirk, as his Cabinet giggled behind him. “If he doesn’t, I’ll come back and hit him hard.”
But critics are calling it a demeaning display that may have not delivered the result Rutte was likely expecting.
“Mr. Rutte, [Trump is] trying to embarrass you, sir,” said Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s communications director during his first term. “He’s literally sitting on Air Force One laughing at you.”
David H Dunn, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham, similarly agreed with Dunn telling the Guardian that “licking Trump’s boots doesn’t earn his favor but his disdain.”
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“There is a lot of evidence from the first term that Trump doesn’t necessarily respond to flattery,” said Dunn. “It sends a signal that this is not an alliance of equals. This is not the America of old, whereby there was a coming together of countries of shared values and shared interests. What it looks like is fealty to the king.”
Dunn pointed out that Trump selected his Cabinet not because he admires them but because their servility shows a weakness that Trump finds comfortable.
“Take the former South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, who in 2020 presented him with a ‘bookshelf-sized’ bronze model of Mount Rushmore, portraying Trump’s face next to those of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt,” wrote Addley. “Noem is now the secretary of homeland security. Stephen Miller, who called Trump ‘the most stylish president in our lifetime’, is the White House deputy chief of staff for policy.”
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Read the full Guardian report at this link.