The losers in all this unseemly business are the European public. They are being screwed by U.S.-led militarism and European elites who are pimping their civilian economies.

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Mark Rutte, the civilian figurehead chief of the NATO alliance, sparked viral headlines and memes this week after he referred to U.S. President Donald Trump as “daddy”.

Even Western news media were taken aback. Reporters questioned whether the former Dutch prime minister was going too far in his obsequiousness and demeaning himself. Without any shame, Rutte doubled down, ladling more compliments on Trump, and praising him for achieving what no other U.S. president has done – forcing European states to ramp up military spending.

The NATO secretary-general’s weird choice of words was not merely abject sycophancy. It was a Freudian slip revealing the sinister and abusive relationship that the United States has with its so-called allies.

At one point, the American president joked that if Rutte doesn’t like him sufficiently, he would “hit him.”

The occasion was the annual summit of the NATO military bloc, which this year was held in The Hague, Netherlands. It wasn’t just Rutte who was scraping and bowing. Most of the leaders from the 32-nation alliance were bending over backwards to appease Trump.

Trump has been relentlessly browbeating the Europeans to spend more of their economies on the military. He has scoffed at them for being “freeloaders” on American security and demanded that they increase their annual military budgets up from 2 percent of national economic output to 5 percent.

This week, the NATO alliance declared a “historic transformation” by announcing a formal commitment to reach the 5 percent target by 2035. That translates into trillions of more euros allocated to militarism, inevitably to the detriment of the civilian economy and social development, as well as inflaming geopolitical conflict.

Most of this new military expenditure will be used to purchase U.S. weapons, such as the F-35 fighter jet and Patriot air defense system, both of which are overpriced and overrated in performance. A new study published this week by the Bruegel and Kiel Institutes found that European nations are heavily dependent on the United States for the manufacture and supply of military equipment. That means that the gargantuan increase in NATO budgets will primarily benefit America’s military industry.

Another Freudian slip came from Trump himself, who said of European political leaders at the NATO summit, “these people really love their countries… it’s not a rip-off and we’re [the US] here to help them protect their countries.”

How twisted. These European politicians are betraying the peaceful interests of the European public while serving the warmongering system of US-led military capitalism. Trump’s talk of “protection” is in reality a Mafia-style protection racket, a racket that NATO has facilitated since its founding in 1949 under the guise of “defending” the “free world” against the Soviet Union.

Rutte, who was appointed as NATO chief last year, taking over from Norwegian Yes Man Jens Stoltenberg, has proven himself to be an ideal choice for intensifying the racket. The Dutch former politician is renowned for building consensus, and he has gone out of his way to court Trump’s narcissism. Rutte has deftly lobbied European states on the “need” to spend more on military, by constantly talking up the alleged threat posed by Russia. The Western media dutifully amplifies the absurd propaganda.

On the eve of the NATO summit this week, Rutte messaged Trump with gushing praise. “Mr President, Dear Donald… Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.”

Having extorted more money from European taxpayers, Trump left the NATO summit with a new, happy view of the organization. He ditched his previous griping about European “freeloaders,” and he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the alliance’s joint defense clause. Trump even adopted the inane talk about Russia attacking other countries after Ukraine.

This is what the European lackeys and Russophobes on both sides of the Atlantic want above all else. Trump’s earlier warnings about pulling the U.S. out of the NATO alliance had unnerved the transatlantic imperialist axis. Those warnings from Trump were always empty. There is no way the U.S. would leave NATO because of its function as a multilateral cover for American imperialism. Nevertheless, Trump’s seeming contempt for the alliance had undermined its unity and the military racket.

By sucking up to Trump’s ego, the alliance appears to have regained purpose. Russophobic political leaders were praising Trump for “making NATO great again.”

For all his bullying talk and bravado, Trump seems to be a weak character who is malleable when his ego is massaged.

The European vassals groveled like never before. Apart from the promises to vastly increase spending on (U.S.) military weapons, the NATO summit was organized to hold brief meetings so as not to bore Trump, given his notorious short attention span.

He was given the indulgent privilege of staying in the Dutch royal palace as a special guest of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. Everything about this summit was focused on pandering to Trump’s ego.

The European NATO sycophants even played down their usual soliciting of more military aid for Ukraine, knowing that this annoys Trump’s transactional obsession to cut losses over the failed proxy war against Russia. The Ukraine conflict was only a sideline issue. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was invited to attend, but he was told to put his begging bowl away. He even donned a smart civilian suit instead of his normal cosplay military garb, which again indicated that the NATO organizers had decided to prioritize toadying up to Trump.

The joint communique issued at the end of the conference designated Russia as the top threat to international security ahead of terrorism and other dangers, which contradicts Trump’s earlier calls for improving relations with Moscow.

From NATO’s point of view, it was a successful week. Uncle Sam is now a Daddy, and the alliance has found a restored unity because the American president won trillions of dollars worth of subsidies for the U.S. military-industrial complex. The European sycophants got what they wanted, too – a U.S. president who has returned to the fold of the anti-Russia alliance.

The losers in all this unseemly business are the European public. They are being screwed by U.S.-led militarism and European elites who are pimping their civilian economies.