President Donald Trump’s official website is now selling a “Trump Daddy” t-shirt, just a day after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte referred to the president by the affectionate title.
Rutte, a Dutch politician, discussed with Trump the president’s actions during the Israel-Iran war. Rutte brought up the fact that, after a ceasefire agreement had been reached, Iran struck Israel one last time, leading Trump to express his annoyance by saying that, “They don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
In reference to that, Rutte commented, “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.” Agreeing, Trump added that, “Every once in a while you have to use a certain word.” Later, responding to a reporter from Sky News inquiring about Rutte’s comment, Trump said “I think he likes me. If he doesn’t, I’ll let you know. I’ll come back and I’ll hit him hard, okay? He did it very affectionately. ‘Daddy — you’re my daddy.’”
Following that humorous interaction, which left Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth chuckling behind the president, the White House released a video of Trump’s visit to the NATO summit captioned “Daddy’s home… Hey, hey, hey, Daddy” with Usher’s song “Hey Daddy” playing over it.
Then, Thursday morning, Trump’s official shop released a memo showcasing the new merchandise: a red T-shirt with Trump’s official portrait and the word “DADDY” underneath.
Rutte has since clarified his comment. “What I said is that sometimes, in Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, ‘Hey, Mark, will the U.S. stay with us?’ And I said that sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, ‘Hey, are you still staying with the family?’ So in that sense, I used ‘daddy’– not that I was calling President Trump daddy.”
