From President Donald J. Trump:
Remember not long ago when former German chancellor Angela Merkel was crowned by pundits in Washington and New York, not to mention Berlin, Paris, and London, as the moral leader of the liberal West?
Merkel was supposed to be the antithesis—a German JFK—to the ultra-nationalist who was occupying the White House and intent on destroying the post-Cold War international order, demolishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and strengthening Russia. Vladimir Putin’s BFF, if not a Russian mole in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who for all practical purposes “has made a war” on Merkel and Europe?
And then there is what has become by now an iconic internet picture, destined to be a museum piece, capturing a scene from the Group of Seven (G-7) meeting in Canada in 2018, which shows Merkel, with both hands down on the table in front of her, leaning and lecturing President Donald Trump, with his arms crossed looking weak and defensive.
It’s as though Merkel, dominating the scene, is towering over Trump, talking him down, like a teacher facing a not-very-smart student, who, after all, refused to sign the joint G-7 communique.
Read the full article by Leon Hadar with the National Interest here.
