Europe Needs to Stop Appeasing Trump

GlobalEurope Needs to Stop Appeasing TrumpObsequiousness will only backfire.By Robert KaganOmar Havana / GettyJune 19, 2026, 1:16 PM ET ShareSave Can Mark Rutte please just stop talking? The NATO secretary general, who infantilized an entire continent last year by referring to Donald Trump as “Daddy,” continued his campaign of flattery at the most recent meeting of the G7: “The U.S. action to prevent the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and degrade its ballistic missile capability improves security for us all,” he told reporters.Diplomats are paid to lie for their country, but this may be the greatest and most obvious falsehood ever uttered by a diplomat not named Sergey Lavrov. Even the most enthusiastic backers of Trump’s war do not believe this nonsense.

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