WASHINGTON — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte aggressively flattered President Trump during a Wednesday visit to the Oval Office while making a brazen claim that European allies hadn’t snubbed Trump during the Iran war.
Rutte brought two large gold-lettered charts hailing Trump’s success in boosting NATO military spending as he tried to sell the president on a reinterpretation of recent history.
“I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran. This is first of all about the nuclear capability Iran was very near to getting its hands on,” Rutte said.
“This is the leader of the free world taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States for the rest of the world. And this is what you did,” he added, saying Iran was “exporting terrorism” and “very near to getting” nuclear weapons.
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“I know there have been debates about whether your allies in Europe were with you enough. I just want to say one thing,” Rutte said.
“They weren’t,” Trump interjected with a two-word comeback.
“Let me say one thing,” Rutte pleaded. “I know you think that [and] your irritation about that, but when you look at the numbers, 4,000- 5,000 US planes [took] off from bases in Europe in the six weeks this war took place.”
Rutte claimed: “I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed, but generally speaking, your European allies have been there.”
Rutte swiftly changed the topic, rising from his seat to present charts titled, “The Trump Trillion” and “The Trump 47 Effect,” showing increased Canadian and European defense spending.
“I want to show you what this president was able to achieve,” the Dutch politician gushed.
His bold attempt to whitewash European opposition to the Iran conflict failed to convince Trump.
“We were let down,” Trump said.
“I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK… We were disappointed with Germany and France. We’re disappointed with most of them. Spain is a horror show.”
The UK, Italy and Spain refused or delayed access to air bases during the war. German leaders criticized the US for not getting NATO’s consent and the French balked at helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump told Rutte that he’s attending next month’s NATO summit in Turkey out of “respect” for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He also praised the Polish government.
“We don’t need their money, we don’t need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by far, but I just want loyalty,” Trump said of large European allies.
“Give us a little nudge, give us a little kiss. We don’t want much. And they say, ‘No, we can’t do it.’”
