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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGermans wonder why Trump keeps lashing out at them and not Russia or Saudi Arabia
Germans wonder why Trump keeps lashing out at them and not Russia or Saudi Arabia
By Rick Noack May 30 at 11:50 AM
BERLIN When news emerged in 2013 that the U.S. government had monitored German Chancellor Angela Merkel's communications for years, Merkel sent a firm but conciliatory message to Washington. Friends don't spy on each other, she said, and then moved on to calm tensions.
At the time, U.S. security experts defended the surveillance, saying friendships can easily end an argument that was swiftly dismissed in Berlin, where strong transatlantic ties had long been the foundation of its international diplomacy.
Four years later, however, the once-unthinkable suddenly seems very real. President Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Germany in recent weeks, taking to Twitter on Tuesday in the latest attack targeting Germany's military spending and trade practices.
Europeans think they are now being treated worse by Trump than countries like Russia or Saudi Arabia, said Stephan Bierling, an expert on transatlantic relations at the University of Regensburg in Germany.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/30/germans-wonder-why-trump-keeps-lashing-out-at-them-and-not-russia-or-saudi-arabia/?utm_term=.112744eae715
underpants
(182,285 posts)I mean any orb will do.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)--Donald Trump's grandfather was kicked out of his native Germany for failing to do his mandatory military service there, a historian has claimed.
A local council letter from 1905 informed Friedrich Trump -- who had become a United States citizen -- that he would not be granted his German citizenship back and that he had eight weeks to leave the country or be deported, German historian Roland Paul told CNN Tuesday.
He also claimed that Trump had illegally left Germany, failing to notify authorities of his plan to immigrate.--
world wide wally
(21,719 posts)He has no morals, not even a moral compass. In short, Trump is an evil man.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,077 posts).
Trump is really just leaning on countries and firms as a way of shaking them down.
Watch, he will become strangely silent when his family gets some benefit from his actions.
.
DFW
(54,059 posts)Don't believe every article you read. I live in Germany, am married to a German and speak the language fluently.
What bugs Trump is that Germany has a healthy budget surplus. They make better cars than we do. They manage to do more for a majority of their citizens than we do for ours. They charge higher taxes to do that, and the people go along with it willingly. They have a low key, very un-flashy woman head of government--one who makes mistakes, admits them, gets nationwide kudos for her forthright attitude, and does an overall far better job than Trump ever will. Worse yet (in Trump's eyes), both Germany and America know it.
Russia and Saudi Arabia both have dictatorial heads of state who preside over economies fully dependent on the price of oil--not a good position to be in at today's price level (just ask Maduro). Their leaders hold on to power by force, including murder. If you are not part of the ruling elite, you are irrelevant.
Germans don't wonder why Trump doesn't lash out at Russia or Saudi Arabia. They see why as clearly as we do: Trump wants nothing more than to be in the position now enjoyed by Putin and/or King Salman.