While Donald Trump celebrates the victory of Germany's right-of-center party, its leader made it clear that his country can no longer rely on the US as an ally.
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Donald Trump hailed the victory of Germany’s center-right party in Sunday’s election as a “great day” for Europe’s largest economy as well as for the US.
“THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR GERMANY, AND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A GENTLEMAN NAMED DONALD J. TRUMP,” he wrote on his social media site. “CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL — MANY MORE VICTORIES TO FOLLOW!!!”
While it is unclear which victories he is referring to, they will likely not be earned together with Germany.
Because Friedrich Merz of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who will likely become Germany’s next chancellor, wasted no time in making it clear that the US under Trump can no longer be trusted.
After a month of the American president threatening trade wars, siding with Russia over Ukraine, trying to sideline European leaders in negotiations to end that war, weakening NATO, and saying that Europe could not count on the US for its security, Merz immediately distanced himself from one of Germany’s greatest allies over the past 80 years.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Merz said during an election night discussion forum with all candidates. “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump’s statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
That is a stunning statement coming from a (likely) German leader, and it shows how great the rift between the Old Continent and the New World currently is.
Americans may not realize this, but Trump’s “America First” approach is increasingly isolating the US and will result in a diminished global leadership role.
That may ultimately turn out to benefit Europe because, while it has relied on the US’s willingly provided protection for decades, the returning threat of Russia could spur the EU into taking care of its own security.
Clearly, this is an issue foremost on the mind of Merz, who is a strong proponent of providing continued assistance to Ukraine to repel its Russian invaders.
It is also possible that Trump confused Merz’s CDU with the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which Elon Musk has been promoting and Vice President JD Vance talked up ahead of Sunday’s vote.
The AfD, which achieved the best result of a far-right party in Germany since the Nazis with about 21 percent of the vote, is much more closely aligned with the GOP on issues like immigration than the CDU.
That is a disconcerting result which shows that economic uncertainty and unhappiness about immigration policies are increasingly driving Europeans to back extremist movements.
On the other hand, the high turnout of 83 percent also shows that, in Germany, democracy still matters.
