Trump Loses Congress, NATO Chief Rutte Loses His Diplomatic Dignity: “Keep Your Chin Up, Donald”

A message of consolation tells you little about the person being comforted. It tells you about the person who sent it.

Donald Trump has lost both chambers of the U.S. Congress. Millions of voters have rejected his policies, in writing, at the ballot box. Mark Rutte had some comforting words for him. “Keep your chin up, and we carry on.” That's how the NATO secretary general himself described it on a Dutch television talk show. He said he'd sent Trump the message the day after the midterms. So the top political official of a military alliance with 32 member countries is worried about the emotional state of a man who has just lost his backing in Congress. For someone partly responsible for Europe's security, his need for personal closeness seems to have grown astonishingly strong.

Rutte has long since turned this kind of diplomacy into an art form. At the NATO summit, he called the president “Daddy.” His gushing messages became public because the recipient himself passed them around. Trump loves flattery, and Rutte produces it with the craftsmanship of a master artisan.

Every serious foreign policy expert knows that Europe would have a hard time defending itself without the United States. But nowhere in the NATO treaty does it say the secretary general has to play personal comforter because of it. There's a line between diplomatic skill and voluntary self-humiliation. Rutte crosses it with the ease of someone out for a stroll who mistakes boundary markers for garden ornaments. That affection becomes particularly disturbing against the backdrop of recent months. The war against Iran has cost many lives and made economic uncertainty worse. European governments are dealing with the consequences of American decisions they rarely have any say in, and Trump has repeatedly put pressure on the alliance. His decisions affect millions of people beyond America's borders. Yet the man receiving comfort is the very man who made those decisions. “Keep your chin up.” As if he'd just had a lousy afternoon on the golf course.

American voters have decided who should represent them in Congress. That verdict deserves respect, especially from an official whose job is to defend democratic countries. He could have kept quiet. Rutte preferred to go on television and tell everyone how thoughtfully he'd written to Trump.

NATO possesses enormous military capabilities. Its secretary general has cultivated a different talent. He can make himself small in front of a president and look remarkably pleased with himself while doing it. That message of consolation has revealed a great deal about the man who sent it. Donald Trump may find it flattering, but for NATO's reputation, it's downright pathetic.