During the essential 2025 NATO summit held at The Hague this week, a NATO chief referred to Donald Trump as “daddy” in a moment that quickly became a massive meme on Twitter and TikTok.
Representatives from 32 countries attended the The Hague summit in the Netherlands on June 24 to discuss global issues, including an increase in military spending, the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East. But amongst these very serious subjects, with people at home questioning if WW3 is about to kick off, the tension was seemingly broken by a metaphor that fell flat on its face.
The viral moment came from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who dubbed Donald Trump “daddy” when discussing the broken ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
BREAKING: In a bizarre moment, Donald Trump defends the NATO chief calling him “daddy.” REPORTER: “Do you regard your NATO allies as children? TRUMP: He did it very affectionately. Daddy, you’re my daddy.” What is this weird shit??
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) June 25, 2025
“They’ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard,” he reportedly said.
“You know, they fight like hell. You can’t stop it. Let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it’s easy to stop them. And then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get it stopped.”
Secretary General Mark Rutte later explained his comments, claiming he was referring to America as “daddy” because Europe often defers to them on major talking points. Sure, Mark, sure – we totally believe you.
The White House responded to Donald Trump being dubbed daddy
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There are countless celebrities and politicians you could persuade me of exhibiting daddy energy, but I can honestly say there are other words I would use to describe Donald Trump. Still, his keyboard warrior administration wasted no time in cashing in on the viral moment.
In a video that was posted to both the official White House Instagram account and the POTUS account, Trump’s social team wrote: “Daddy’s home… Hey, hey, hey, Daddy. President Donald J. Trump attended the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands.”
The video itself was a compilation of Trump’s NATO summit moments, but it translated as the sort of entrance you’d see on Love Island or The Bachelor, with Trump getting out of the car and waving to supporters before entering the building. To make matters even more cringy, Usher’s Hey Daddy played in the background.
Beneath the cult-like comments from MAGA supporters who clap like seals whenever Donald Trump breathes, normal people recognised the clear stupidity of the viral daddy moment.
One person wrote: “Has the United States really reduced to this that ‘Daddy is Home’ song is supposed to represent us? SMH wow.”
“This video is so crazy. Hard to believe this is our president,” someone else said.
Another wrote: “Our presidency is so cringe.”
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Featured image credit: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock
