Saying that they don’t mean to stand in the way of Rutte, a senior Eastern European diplomat said: “At least somebody has to ask, ‘OK, Mark, how are you going to deal with Russia?'”

They also cite Rutte’s repeated failure to bring Dutch defense spending up to the target of 2 percent of GDP agreed by all allies a decade ago, which they said could be used against him if Trump were to be elected.

That’s in addition to the bilateral ill-feeling between the Netherlands and Romania, two NATO members who are part of the European Union, as Rutte’s government for years refused Bucharest’s entry into Schengen, the borderless zone for EU countries, citing corruption and criminal activities.