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There is backlash, but NATO chief Mark Rutte does not care. Why? Because he is the only European who speaks the language of US President Donald Trump.
Meet “Teflon Mark.” He was the longest-serving Dutch prime minister because absolutely nothing sticks to him.
Rutte went from riding a bicycle in The Hague during his premiership to flying constantly across the Atlantic to put out NATO fires.
Also, meet the pianist. Rutte gave up his dream of being a musician because he claimed he was not “good enough”.
Yet he mastered a different instrument called consensus.
With the Greenland discord testing the alliance, he is working overtime to keep 32 nations in tune, all while Washington keeps trying to change the sheet music.
And Brussels calls him “the Flying Dutchman”. Not because of the myth. But by constantly flying back and forth to the White House, he is a top collector of airline travel points.
Finally, meet the “Good Cop,” complementing Trump’s “Bad Cop.” The man who once led Europe’s “Frugal Four,” refusing to spend a single extra euro, is now pressing Europe to spend 5% of its GDP on security.
And then, there is the daddy issue. He once joked that Trump is the “daddy” of geopolitics. Well, judging by the leaked texts where Rutte praises him, it seems Mark is trying very hard to be the favourite child.
But Rutte, being Trump’s favourite, has a hard job. And our friend Elon Musk can tell you something about it.
Watch the video in the player above for the entire story.