“We have a very strong relationship with the government of Germany,” Heather Nauert said.
“Looking back in the history books, today is the 71st anniversary of the speech that announced the Marshall Plan. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government of Germany.”
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Nauert’s comments were mocked online with many pointing out the spokeswoman had been hired directly from Fox News.
Saying “we have a very long history with Germany” because the United States fought against Hitler and the Nazi Party in World War II “sounds closer to a veiled insult, and certainly isn’t a positive reflection of the closeness of Germany-US relations”, says Vox.
The State Department spokeswoman’s gaff came while she defending remarks made by the new US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, which drew condemnation from across Germany’s political spectrum.
Grenell, a former US spokesman at the United Nations and a strong supporter of Donald Trump, told the far-right Breitbart News he “absolutely wants to empower” European conservatives who are “experiencing an awakening from the silent majority”.
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Grenell “turned heads when he did an interview with Breitbart”, says CNN. The ambassador was criticised for “politicising diplomacy at a time when US-German relations are strained over Trump's withdrawals from the Iran deal and the Paris climate accord and his imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union”, adds the broadcaster.
Grenell’s words were “widely received as Grenell weighing in on German politics — against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centrist government, and in favor of the right-wing Alternative for Deutschland party”, says Vox.
Grenell later denied that this is what he meant, “but the damage was done”, adds the website.
