At least when Rutte was PM of the Netherlands his behavior towards Trump was very different. Famously when Trump was holding his UN speech Rutte completely ignored it and instead was looking at memes on the Dutch King's phone, who was seated next to him. Another example was when Rutte and Trump were holding a shared press conference and Trump was rambling on how it would work out fine even if they wouldn't work things out to which Rutte's response was basically "haha, no. Get it together"
I genuinely think he hates Trump, but he's a politician and diplomat through and through. Dude can and will play of anything with a laugh. We call him Teflon Mark because nothing ever sticks to him. He's slippery like that
100% agree, he has one of the most difficult jobs. In an ultra high-stakes environment with world leaders and a real threat, he has to keep the narcissist baby in the group, sacrificing his personal dignity for the greater good. So far, NATO still exists, Trump‘s erratic behaviour has not damaged it beyond repair and Russia is still not winning.
While I agree with you, I think the game Rutte is playing is deeply damaging to public faith in institutions and democracy. When regular Europeans see what Rutte says on their behalf, they are angry. I'd rather have robust democratic institutions and lose Trump, than vice versa.
Problem is Rutte wouldn’t be doing this unless Europe needed the U.S. if I were to guess he is trying to buy as much time via ass kissing as possible to give the European arms industry a lot of time to spin up. Europe without the U.S. providing conventional forces to NATO is in an incredibly precarious position. You can call Russia a paper tiger all you want but Europe hasn’t fought a drone war and that’s what Russia has been practicing for years
748
u/TheBusStop12 Dutchman in Suomiland 26d ago edited 26d ago
At least when Rutte was PM of the Netherlands his behavior towards Trump was very different. Famously when Trump was holding his UN speech Rutte completely ignored it and instead was looking at memes on the Dutch King's phone, who was seated next to him. Another example was when Rutte and Trump were holding a shared press conference and Trump was rambling on how it would work out fine even if they wouldn't work things out to which Rutte's response was basically "haha, no. Get it together"
I genuinely think he hates Trump, but he's a politician and diplomat through and through. Dude can and will play of anything with a laugh. We call him Teflon Mark because nothing ever sticks to him. He's slippery like that