He has been prime minister for long enough to know exactly how little the European leaders will care about his Trump appeasements.
I still think that Rutte is the perfect guy for this role, now that we have to deal with Trump. Able to change position while shrugging of any hypocrasy, as slimy as your steriotypical politician, and plenty of experience.
Vlad Vexler read a quote recently from the Jens Stoltenberg book (I haven’t read it yet) on a NATO meeting during Trump’s first term. The US delegation was ready to leave, and Rutte managed to make Trump stay, by praising Trump to the skies. This really put him in the position to become Sec Gen. And I agree - he is perfect for the role of Sec Gen during the current Trump era, for his position of keeping NATO alive.
I think most people see Rutte as a bad Sec Gen, due to him “letting” Trump do and say whatever, and help destroy the current international order. But his job is not to keep the international order alive, its to keep NATO alive. Whether NATO will survive a change to the international order is a different question though.
He has been prime minister for long enough to know exactly how little the European leaders will care about his Trump appeasements.
I still think that Rutte is the perfect guy for this role, now that we have to deal with Trump. Able to change position while shrugging of any hypocrasy, as slimy as your steriotypical politician, and plenty of experience.
Vlad Vexler read a quote recently from the Jens Stoltenberg book (I haven’t read it yet) on a NATO meeting during Trump’s first term. The US delegation was ready to leave, and Rutte managed to make Trump stay, by praising Trump to the skies. This really put him in the position to become Sec Gen. And I agree - he is perfect for the role of Sec Gen during the current Trump era, for his position of keeping NATO alive.
I think most people see Rutte as a bad Sec Gen, due to him “letting” Trump do and say whatever, and help destroy the current international order. But his job is not to keep the international order alive, its to keep NATO alive. Whether NATO will survive a change to the international order is a different question though.