Rutte-Trump: the flattery diplomacy dividing Europe

Rutte-Trump: when flattery raises suspicions

The leak of private messages between Donald Trump and Mark Rutte has peine the debate over the role of the NATO Secretary General. "Can't wait to see you. Yours, Mark," the Dutchman wrote to the then US president. The phrase, published by 'El Economista', unleashed a storm of interpretations: simple diplomatic courtesy or unconditional surrender?

Rutte is no novice. Former prime minister of the Netherlands for more than a decade, he is known as "the chameleon": pragmatic, trained at Unilever, Merkel's right-hand man and a friend of Obama and Trudeau. Those who know him say he embodies Dutch culture: direct, realistic, always with a smile that hides calculation. Yet his public defence of Trump – "without him, countries like Spain would not reach the 2% defence spending target" – and his support for the offensives in Iran have left many in doubt.

Submission or pragmatism?

Opinion is split. On one side are those who see Rutte as a strategist who flatters in order to preserve NATO in the face of a Trump who threatened to blow it apart. On the other, those who read his messages as those of a "premium bootlicker" – in the jargon – willing to do anything to please the White House. The question a journalist put to him live captures the unease: "Doesn't it hurt your pride to listen to him and say nothing?" Rutte dodged the answer.

The anecdote circulating in diplomatic circles is revealing: Rutte lived with his mother until she passed away, still lives in the same flat from his student days in Leiden and cycles to work. A profile that, for some, spells austerity; for others, detachment from real power. But behind that modest façade, they insist, lies a schemer serving Dutch business interests. The unsettling detail: while Europe debates whether Rutte is a martyr or a lackey, NATO continues on its roadmap of military spending increases that Trump demands.