While Trump lavishes praise on Kim Jong-Un and Vladimir Putin, he has nothing but scorn for our European allies. The one leader he hates the most is the German chancellor Angela Merkel, and he constantly points to Germany as a place where “millions” of Muslim refugees have wrecked the country.
Yesterday he enraged even critics of Merkel’s immigration policies with a gratuitous tweet.
In fact, Merkel remains the most popular politician in Germany. Also, crime in Germany is at its lowest level since 1992.
It didn’t take long for Germans to react. The Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, Merkel’s opponent in the last election, tweeted: “Donald Trump is a genuine expert when it comes to crime statistics. Hush money for porn stars, illegal contacts with Russia, plus his campaign manager behind bars.”
Today, many in Germany realize that Trump is not an ally, but rather “the enemy”, who only wants to damage the nation. The journalist Stefan Kuzmany has a scathing op/ed piece on the Website of Der Spiegel: “The Enemy in the White House”
“ (my translation) No, this US president was never a partner, he is a bitter opponent. We must finally begin to treat him accordingly. Summoning the US ambassador and making a formal protest is just the first step. Relations with this US government should be held to the bare minimum. We should no longer even pretend we are favorably disposed. Germany and the European Union no longer need to be politely restrained in commenting in public on this US government. [...} We’ve known for some time that we can no longer count on the US under Trump. But today we know for sure: we must actively protect ourselves from him.”
Coincidentally, Germany’s president — Frank-Walter Steinmeier — is currently visiting the United States. But he will not meet with any official of the Trump Administration. Rather, he is in Los Angeles opening the Thomas Mann House. The great novelist and democrat Mann was granted asylum from Nazi Germany — as were many hundreds of other writers, scientists, artists composers from across Europe. That was FDR’s America.