Mark Rutte praises US President’s ‘strong words’ as NATO leaders meet in The Hague while Trump rages at CNN and New York Times over ‘obliteration’ claims
NATO’s secretary general has hailed Donald Trump as “Daddy” in a toe-curling tribute after the US President dropped the F-bomb on live TV while comparing Iran and Israel to squabbling schoolchildren.
Former Dutch PM Mark Rutte made the cringe-worthy comment as leaders of the 32-nation alliance gathered in The Hague yesterday, with the bloc expected to agree a new defence spending target of 5% of gross domestic product.
“And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get them to stop,” Rutte laughed, after Trump had compared the Middle East conflict to “two kids in a schoolyard” who “fight like hell.”
Presidential profanity
The NATO chief’s bizarre “daddy” reference came after Trump’s shocking moment in front of reporters when he appeared to lose his cool about the ongoing conflict.
“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 2-3 minutes, then it’s easy to stop them,” Trump had told the press during the NATO summit.
The President’s profane outburst was just the beginning of what would become a full-scale meltdown over his weekend strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
‘OBLITERATED’ – or not?
Trump had boasted on Saturday night that US forces had achieved “ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY,” claiming Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan had been “completely and totally obliterated.
But the President’s victory lap was short-lived.
Early Pentagon intelligence assessments from the Defense Intelligence Agency now suggest the attacks – carried out with more than a dozen massive 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs dropped from B-2 stealth bombers – did not fully destroy the nuclear facilities as Trump had claimed.
Truth Social tirade
When CNN and the New York Times reported that the strikes had only pushed back Iran’s nuclear programme by one to two months at the earliest, Trump went ballistic.
In a furious all-caps Truth Social rant, the President accused both outlets of teaming up “in an attempt to demean” the strikes.
He even got personal, purposefully misgendering CNN’s Anderson Cooper as “Allison Cooper” in his attack on what he called “sleazebags in the Media.”
White House hits back
The White House quickly went into damage control mode, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt slamming the intelligence assessment as “flat-out wrong.
“Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” she insisted.
But satellite images released after the attack painted a different picture – showing significant damage but not the complete destruction Trump had promised.
Reality check
According to sources familiar with the classified assessment, the strikes failed to eliminate the centrifuges and highly enriched uranium at the sites, meaning Iran could restart its nuclear work in a matter of months.
At Fordow, satellite imagery showed two craters likely from the bunker busters and a damaged air defence site – but the underground facility buried 300 feet beneath a mountain appeared to have survived.
In Natanz, the above-ground section of the pilot plant and key electricity infrastructure were destroyed, but questions remained about damage to the underground portions.
Pentagon posturing
The contradiction between Trump’s boasts and the intelligence assessment has left the administration scrambling.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had called the strikes “an incredible and overwhelming success” that “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.
But CENTCOM’s deputy commander Bradley Cooper struck a more cautious tone, telling senators that while Iran had been “degraded,” the country still retains “considerable” capabilities.
Media meltdown continues
Trump’s fury at the media coverage showed no signs of abating, with the President taking to Truth Social to attack specific networks and journalists.
“It never ends with the sleazebags in the Media, and that’s why their Ratings are at an ALL TIME LOW—ZERO CREDIBILITY!” he raged.
The President particularly targeted what he called “Fake News CNN” and NBC, accusing them of working to undermine his administration’s military success.
NATO’s awkward moment
Back at the NATO summit, Rutte’s “daddy” comment left many delegates squirming, with the Dutch politician’s attempt at humour falling flat in the midst of serious discussions about Middle East security.
The alliance is pushing for increased defence spending targets, but Trump’s explosive rhetoric and the questions over the Iran strikes’ effectiveness have overshadowed the summit’s agenda.
As one diplomatic source put it: “Calling the President ‘daddy’ while he’s having a meltdown about bombing Iran probably wasn’t the best timing.
