German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her political rival united against Trump
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her top political rival in their national elections this September are united against President Trump, according to The Washington Post.
Merkel appeared to rebuke Mr. Trump in remarks on Sunday in which she urged the European Union to stick together in the face of weakening U.S. support.
"The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days," Merkel said at a campaign event in a Bavarian beer tent with Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer. "And so all I can say is that we Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands."
Merkel's main opponent, Martin Schulz, has also criticized Mr. Trump in recent days. Schulz blasted him in a video published Monday, according to the Post, in which he said Mr. Trump "believed he could inflict humiliation" in Brussels, which the president visited last week for the NATO summit.
He also appeared to respond to Mr. Trump's conduct during the G-7 summit of rich countries over the weekend.
"The chancellor represents all of us at summits like these, and I reject with outrage the way this man takes it upon himself to treat the head of our country's government," Schulz said, according to the report.
During his first foreign trip as president, Mr. Trump reportedly said at the summit that "the Germans are bad, very bad," according to meeting participants, quoted by Der Spiegel. On Friday, White House adviser Gary Cohn sought to clarify the criticism.
"He said they're very bad on trade but he doesn't have a problem with Germany," said Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, according to the White House pool report from Taormina, Sicily where the G-7 summit was held.
"He said his dad is from Germany. He said, 'I don't have a problem with Germany, I have a problem with German trade,'" Cohn added.