By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — For days it seemed there was no way out of the latest standoff between Europe and the United States: U.S. President Donald Trump insisted he must have Greenland — and would settle for nothing short of total ownership.

Even after he dropped the threat of force in a speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, the impasse remained. Enter: Mark Rutte.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The NATO secretary-general may have been instrumental in persuading Trump to scrap the threat of slapping punitive tariffs on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland — a stunning reversal shortly after insisting he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership.”

In a post on his social media site, Trump said he had agreed with Rutte on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, potentially defusing tensions that had far-reaching geopolitical implications.

Little is known about what the agreement entails or how crucial Rutte’s intervention was, and Trump could change course again. But for now, Rutte has earned his reputation as a “Trump whisperer.”

That’s only the latest nickname for the man long known as “Teflon Mark” during his domination of Dutch politics for a dozen years.

‘Trump whisperer’

Rutte’s reputation for successfully charming the U.S. president took flight last year when he referred to Donald Trump as “daddy” during an alliance summit in The Hague and sent him a flattering text message.

Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte speaks during an Ukrainian Breakfast alongside the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the dramatic scenes in Davos underscored Rutte’s ability to keep NATO’s most powerful leader on board.

“I think Secretary-General Rutte has emerged as one of Europe’s most effective diplomats and Trump whisperers,” Kroenig said. “He does seem to have a way of speaking to Trump that keeps the United States and the Trump administration engaged in NATO in a constructive way.”

Rutte’s success in dealing with Trump appears to revolve around his willingness to use charm and flattery while revealing little of what the two leaders discuss. It’s a tactic that Rutte used to marshal coalition partners in nearly 13 years as Dutch prime minister.

Trump himself highlighted Rutte’s effusive friendliness before he set off for Davos this week, publishing a text message from the NATO chief on his Truth Social platform. In it, Rutte addresses “Mr. President, dear Donald” and praises Trump for his diplomacy in Syria, Gaza and Ukraine.

“I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark,” the message ended.

Teflon Mark

Rutte became a poster boy for Dutch consensus politics while leading four often fractious ruling coalitions on his way to becoming the Netherlands’ longest-serving leader, surviving a number of domestic political scandals over the years and earning the nickname “Teflon Mark” because the fallout never seemed to stick to him for long.

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The back cover of a 2016 book about Rutte by Dutch journalist Sheila Sitalsing, who followed him when he was prime minister, calls him “a phenomenon.”

“With indestructible cheerfulness he navigates the fragmented political landscape, recklessly forges the most extraordinary alliances and steadily works towards a new Netherlands,” it adds.

Rutte and his government resigned in 2021 to take responsibility for a child care allowance scandal in which thousands of parents were wrongly accused of fraud. But he bounced back to win national elections two months later with a slightly larger share of the vote and began his fourth and last term in office.

In another scandal that he survived, Rutte said in an interview that he couldn’t recall being informed about the Dutch bombing of Hawija that killed dozens of Iraqi civilians in 2015. In 2022, he survived a no-confidence motion in parliament in a debate about deleting messages from his old-school Nokia cellphone. Critics accused him of concealing state activity — but he insisted the messages just took up too much space in his phone.

Opposition lawmaker Attje Kuiken quipped: “It appears that the prime minister’s phone memory is used just as selectively as the prime minister’s own memory.”

His winning smile and enduring optimism, along with his habit of riding his bicycle to work while chomping on an apple seemed to help cement his popularity in the Netherlands, where such down-to-earth behavior is prized. When his last coalition collapsed in 2023 in a dispute over reining in migration, Rutte again leaned on that image, driving an old Saab station wagon to a royal palace to hand his resignation to King Willem-Alexander.

From The Hague to Brussels

Just landing the NATO chief’s job showed how adept Rutte is at navigating turbulent geopolitical waters. He managed to convince entrenched doubters, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to back his candidacy.

“It took a very long time. It’s a complicated process, but it’s an honor that it appears to have happened,” Rutte told reporters after securing all the support he needed to become secretary-general.

Rutte’s soft diplomatic skills were seen as a key asset for the leader of the 32-nation alliance as it faced Trump’s repeated criticism while navigating how to support Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Several hours before Trump made his dramatic reversal on Greenland, Finnish President Alexander Stubb — another European leader credited with having a way with Trump — was asked during a panel discussion on European security in Davos “who or what can diffuse the tensions” over Greenland?

“Oh, Mark Rutte,” Stubb said, to laughter in the audience and among the panel that included the Dutchman himself.

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Ali Swenson in Washington contributed.

Minnesota United is interested in signing 20-year-old Dutch right back Cherrion Valerius from club NAC Breda, a source confirmed to the Pioneer Press on Thursday.

MNUFC’s preseason pursuit of a right back could be filled by Valerius, a 6-foot-4 prospect with 34 games experience in the Dutch top flight, the Eredivsie.  The Loons have been targeting a new player for that defensive position, which, in turn, would allow last year’s primary right back, Bongi Hlongwane, to return to more-natural attacking positions.

The potential transfer fee from MNUFC to NAC Breda for Valerius, and whether the Rotterdam native will occupy an Under-22 Initiative roster spot, are not yet known.

Dutch reporter Joost Blaauwhof first reported the Valerius news on Thursday. He said Valerius has drawn interest from Scotland and Spain’s La Liga, but the Loons came first with a “substantial amount.”

The outlet BN DeStem said NAC Breda coach Carl Hoefkens did not deny the interest in Valerius, which it said also included clubs in Italy. Hoefkens assumed Valerius would be able to play against PSV Eindhoven on Saturday; a player being taken out of an upcoming lineup can be seen as a sign of an imminent move elsewhere.

The Loons have signed one player from outside MLS this winter, 21-year-old Colombian winger Mauricio Gonzalez. His addition through the 2029-30 season was made official on Tuesday.

The Sherburne County sheriff’s office says a 7-year-old girl was found safe by police following an Amber Alert late Wednesday night.

A suspect was in custody, according to the sheriff’s office. No other details were released.

The sheriff’s office planned to hold a press conference on the case Thursday morning.

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By Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Wildflower expert Naomi Fraga was excited about the prospect of an extraordinary bloom this spring, after a winter of near record rainfall, but this week’s unseasonably hot, dry weather has dimmed her hopes for a superbloom year.

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“Superblooms are not guaranteed every year, even after lots of rain,” said Fraga, director of conservation programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont. “When it happens, it’s extraordinary, but you need all the stars to align, with rain, temperature and timing. We’ve had some of those ingredients, but it remains to be seen if the weather will cooperate to give us a spectacular bloom year.”

California certainly has had the rainfall — it’s been the second wettest season through January that L.A. has seen in 21 years, according to the Los Angeles Almanac. And the rainy weather came at the right time to give SoCal lots of colorful blooms this spring, traditionally around mid-March through April in Southern California, Fraga said.

But wildflowers also need at least six weeks of cool weather to grow after they germinate. Despite the rain, Southern California had record warm temperatures in November and December, Fraga said, “and we’re seemingly headed that way in January.”

A surge of hot weather, like what SoCal is experiencing this week, can damage young plants, either forcing them into a lackluster early bloom “that fizzles fast or desiccating emerging buds that won’t make it into production,” Fraga said.

The average high temperature in January for downtown L.A. is 68 degrees, but Wednesday’s high was 83 degrees, said Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The Greater Los Angeles area isn’t expected to reach record highs this week, but it will get close. The high on Wednesday was just a few degrees shy of downtown L.A.’s record high of 88 degrees on Jan. 14, 1975, Schoenfeld said.

The best hope for a potential superbloom is if SoCal gets some cool, wet weather next week, Fraga said, but the chances of that are iffy. Temperatures are expected to cool some, National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Wofford said, “but they’ll still be about 5 degrees above normal next week.”

Right now, it’s possible SoCal will see a small amount of rain between Jan. 22 and Jan. 24, Wofford said, but it won’t be a large amount, “maybe a quarter inch.”

Nonetheless, Fraga said she’s still excited to see what kind of bloom SoCal has this spring, especially after last year’s massive fires in the area.

Southern California may not get a superbloom this year, she said, but we do have a good chance of seeing spectacular “fire followers,” native flowers that typically emerge after a wildfire such as native snap dragons, dense stands of lupine, whispering bells and one of the most eagerly anticipated, the deep pink, lavender, white and yellow Plummer’s mariposa lily, a species that is endemic to SoCal. (On Instagram, San Francisco Bay-based naturalist Damon Tighe posted some breathtaking photos of the flowers he took in 2022.)

The region has already seen some early wildflower displays in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, probably triggered by rain last fall.

Fraga said she hasn’t given up hope of spectacular displays around L.A. this spring.

She has vivid memories of what she considers to be the region’s biggest bloom years over the past 20 years: in 2005, her first as a young botanist, 2016 and 2023, when our hills and fields were blanketed in colorful displays of California poppies, lupine, phacelia, blazing star and other native annuals.

“Obviously the visual displays are incredible,” she said, “but some of the memories that stick with me the most are the smells — the smells you don’t get in a more average year. One year I came cross a population of lacy phacelia in Red Rock Canyon State Park. You see these flowers growing in patches here and there, but this time, I found this huge mass. And this smell was permeating the air. I couldn’t help wondering what it was until I realized it was the plants emanating this perfume, and there were so many pollinators attracted by its scent.”

Sometimes, she said, the scents from these mass groupings have been overwhelming, like the time she and her plant-enthusiast husband came across a huge patch of a rather humble white annual known as linanthus jonesii, which closes its flowers during the day and opens them at dusk to attract moths.

They had been out all day, and were preparing to leave, “when this smell came into the air. I told my husband, ‘I smell Cup Noodles soup,’ and then I looked at the ground and saw all these flowers were opening. The smell had a very umami [vibe], like ramen, but then it got to be too much. And we started running to our car, because the smell was just nauseating.”

The Theodore Payne Foundation’s Wild Flower Hotline is a good way to keep track of where flowers are blooming, but it won’t start up until March 1. So in the meantime, wildflower lovers should keep their fingers crossed for cooler weather.

Fraga said she’s still hopeful for what will be coming this spring. “More moisture and cooling would help a lot,” she said, “but you never know when these superblooms will happen. It could still happen this year because we had lots of rain. So no matter what, I’m excited for the spring, because it’s a great time to enjoy the outdoors and see an incredible display by nature.”

©2026 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.