German commentators are complaining about Tuesday’s telephone conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, which was aimed at ending the war and ultimately establishing peace.
These commentators are increasingly resorting to more extreme rhetoric against Trump, labeling him a “despot” or accusing him of “Mafia” tactics against Ukraine.
For four years during Trump’s first term, German newspapers had non-stop coverage of Trump, bordering on obsessive. Front pages were often filled with more U.S.-focused news stories than German ones. With Trump in power for a little over two months, this trend may be even more extreme this time around, especially due to Trump’s efforts to bring peace to Ukraine.
Remarkably, none of these commentators, despite their deep patriotic fervor to support Ukraine against the evil Putin, have been seen anywhere near the front. Instead, they want to send more Ukrainians there to die in the war, much like the German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl now openly says should continue — for another five years no less.
In Germany, political commentators are tirelessly stirring up anti-American, anti-Trump sentiment. “Putin treats Trump as his agent,” writes Nikolas Busse, commenting on the Trump-Putin conversation in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as cited by Do Rzeczy.
“It is not known what Trump and Putin discussed on the phone. However, the statements published after the conversation indicate that the road to peace in Ukraine is longer than the American president presents,” Busse complains, pointing out that the Russian president is demanding an end to military aid for Ukraine, which “unmasks his views on ending the war.”
“Putin can treat Trump like an officer handling his agent. The U.S. president is breaking Kyiv’s resistance for him and is supposed to achieve a similar goal with the Europeans, because, in the case of military aid, a lot depends on them,” Busse continues.
“The Russian president is simply taking advantage of the opportunity offered to him by Trump, who is a mixture of despotism and naivety. It is hard to understand how this can be treated as an expression of American power,” writes the “FAZ” commentator. In his opinion, the American president gains little from “deals” with Putin, which primarily bring Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine.
Similar assessments are expressed by other commentators in leading magazines. Josef Wagner from “Bild” even points out that Trump comes from a family of millionaires, which may not seem very relevant to the conversation, but for the German press, any jab they can get in on Trump is justified. In his opinion, the U.S. president may have been deceived by Putin, who he says is a professional spy and former KGB officer.
One of the most anti-Trump newspapers, Die Zeit, runs nearly non-stop propaganda against Trump, with commentator Carsten Luther claiming Trump is “using mafia methods to force Ukraine into supposed peace negotiations, whose inglorious outcome he already half-anticipates.”
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) May 28, 2024
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His entire op-ed makes thinly veiled claims that Trump is “controlled” by Moscow.
“Where does Trump’s strange fascination with Russia and the ruler in the Kremlin come from, which he has displayed for so long and which has characterized his entire first term as President of the United States? Starting with Russian manipulation during the 2016 election – in his favor. Then there was the suspicion that Trump himself had conspired with his Russian aides. Finally, extensive special investigations and attempts to obstruct them,” writes the Zeit columnist.
Of course, the special counsel investigation was a huge dud, with Robert Mueller being forced to admit that there was no evidence of collusion with Russia. Nevertheless, much like the readers of the liberal press in America, there was no “claim” too absurd to accept as long as it was an indictment of Trump. The dishonest attempts to associate Trump with some shadowy Russian cabal that Trump secretly supports, is in reality, simply just conspiracy-mongering from a German paper trying to gain clicks with yet another anti-Trump article.
There were, nonetheless, some signs of progress with Trump’s phone call with Putin. In a statement about the two-hour conversation, the Kremlin said that Putin had agreed to the demand to halt attacks on energy infrastructure located in Ukraine for 30 days.
This is no clear evidence that the war will wind down anytime soon. However, it cannot be denied that Trump is trying to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion, even if that means Russia keeps part of Ukrainian territory.
Before German commentators go into a rage over this, they should know that independent pollster Gallup already found that a clear majority of Ukrainians want exactly this outcome: peace with territorial concessions to Russia if need be. Their country and their people have been destroyed by this war, with a bleak future ahead, both demographically and socially.
The German political class and its media arm are the typical “chicken hawks,” asking others to fight a war absolutely no cost to their own lives or their families’ lives. Ukrainians owe them nothing.
The fact that Trump is the one pushing for peace makes any possible peaceful outcome even more unpalatable for the Germans. It cannot be said enough. They should all spend a few days at the front, and then we can all at least respect their calls to keep the war going. Until then, they are all cowards, and that should be the final word on the matter.
