Merkel speaks for the refugees.
U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s advice on how to handle the North Korean crisis. “Let her speak for Germany,” Trump told reporters yesterday referring to the statement made by Merkel earlier in the day. “She’s a very good friend of mine,” Trump said. “Maybe she’s referring to Germany, she’s certainly not referring to the United States.”
Merkel had criticised Trump’s recent statements aimed at North Korean regime, saying, “I consider a verbal escalation to be the wrong response.”
“Trump reacts to Merkel rebuke with a clear message,” reported the leading German daily Die Welt. The country’s state-run broadcaster Deutsche Welle came to Merkel’s defense, complaining, peace-loving German Chancellor “advocate[s] an international diplomatic response” and “Trump ignores Merkel’s pleas against violence.”[…]
Germany’s leading current affairs magazine Der Spiegel was surprised to see the current US President responding in kind to North Korean provocations “In the past, most U.S. presidents have put up with this kind of saber rattling. But not Trump, who responds to just about every threat with a counterthreat,” the German weekly wrote.
After eight of Obama’s leading-from-behind Foreign Policy, Merkel and the EU are having a tough time adjusting to the new leadership style that Trump has brought to Washington.