In June of 2025, Mark Rutte met Trump at the NATO summit. Trump left the summit with some topics and new phrases to tweet at his deranged fans, and Rutte left a step closer to achieving some of Europe’s strategic ambitions. Much of the mainstream media and even Trump, however, would have you believe that Rutte publicly degraded himself and that Trump was able to ‘out-alpha’ him in their interactions. 

Within reporting on International Relations, I have noticed a real issue in terms of understanding diplomacy from mainstream media outlets. Too often I see organisations fixating on the more sensationalist aspects of meetings between world leaders. Recently, Starmer picked up some papers which Trump had clumsily dropped, and it became the most memorable part of the entire meeting, not the newly signed trade deal.

Diplomacy is only in part a public and physical game. Populist leaders such as Trump are only able to see it in this way. Trump almost always prefers bilateral meetings, where he feels he can ‘score points’ by insulting the other party and embarrassing them publicly. He disregards the nuances of international relations, banking on the fact that the other parties will be more mature and recognise the catastrophe of a complete breakdown in trust and cooperation between the US and the rest of the world. 

Following the ‘daddy’ comment, made by Rutte and grossly misunderstood by Trump, the Whitehouse made videos for their social media poking fun at the instance. To anyone interested in securing Europe’s strategic aims, and protecting Ukraine, this should be totally disregarded. Rutte has managed to bring Trump back on board (at least temporarily) by giving him what he wants most; attention. 

European leaders are beginning to recognise that regular diplomacy is no longer an effective tool to employ when dealing with Trump. He won’t listen to a logical argument on why the US should be tougher on Russia and kinder to Ukraine because he doesn’t really care what happens. In every disastrous meeting we have witnessed, every meltdown in the oval office, the trigger is always someone challenging him in a public forum. European leaders should play his game, placate him, stroke his ego, all for the greater good.