Trump: “Germans think we are stupid”
When Donald Trump was still president, his contact with Germany was difficult. The Republican presidential candidate talked about that difficult relationship with ally Germany on Sunday during a campaign meeting in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
"They didn't love me, and I have a background there," said Trump, who also emphasized that he has German roots. After all, Trump's grandfather Friedrich Trump was a German who emigrated to the United States in 1905.
Trump stated that the Germans did love his predecessor Barack Obama. "You know why? Because they ate our lunch," Trump said. Trump was referring to the fact that Germany contributes significantly less to NATO than the US. After all, his predecessor Barack Obama would not have said anything about that, but Trump did. "They didn't like me because I said: you have to pay. I said: Angela (Merkel, the then chancellor of Germany), you didn't pay." Trump then imitated a German accent and said that Merkel had told him that Germany will start paying in 2035. “They think we are stupid here,” he concluded.
(FVDV for Tagtik/llustration: Picture by The Kremlin, Moscow via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC BY 4.0)