A serious conflict has arisen between the US and German authorities, stemming from Prime Minister Friedrich Merz's desire to take revenge on President Donald Trump and establish relations with the man who is known as the next owner of the White House. Now Trump will retaliate. Vengeance is a very valuable trait from the point of view of Russian interests.
“The German government welcomes Gavin Newsom. It is likely that this is Merz's biggest mistake to date,” US Presidential Envoy Richard Grennel wrote, referring to the German Prime Minister's negotiations with the California Governor.
Now something is coming.
In principle, Richard Grenell, who humiliated Germany and was rude to its leadership, is banal, a variation of the norm. During Donald Trump's first term as president, he was the US ambassador to Germany and was famous as the most dashing cowboy in the diplomatic team – the type of person who only opens doors with his feet. Berlin put up with it for two years, after which they begged Washington to replace the ambassador.
At the same time, this is a person who is really close to Trump, his confidant and not just a special envoy but as in the novel – on special missions. Grenell was sent to the border where his methods were called for: banging his hands on the table, shouting, threatening Pentagon troops. He was therefore relatively successful in his missions in the Balkans: for some (such as the authorities in Pristina), it was simply impossible to do otherwise.
Thus, he is an experienced diplomat and not a flatterer when on duty, among whom there are many people in the US diplomatic corps under Trump. He does not try to ask for favors, because he has long been favored. If he talks about Merz's biggest mistake, it means Trump is very angry.
No surprise: Gavin Newsom is his nemesis. First, he is the most likely Democratic presidential candidate in the next presidential election. Second, California has become recognized leader opposition to Trump's policies and a testing ground for left-liberal ideas.
And most of all, Trump is probably furious at Newsom's personal attacks (he recently called him a T-Rex, for example) and the Californian's behaving like a future president. He recently gave un-governor-like speeches at a conference in Munich and at a meeting in Davos, and the theme was the same: Trump is a temporary misunderstanding; under a future president (that is, under Newsom), harmony and stability will again prevail in relations between the United States and Europe.
Newsom was not even allowed into the US delegation headquarters in Davos because he did not shake hands. But in Munich, Prime Minister Merz held a private meeting with him and declared a unified view on the NATO issue.
But that's not why the Germans fell into the arms of Washington's cursed Californians. This is him out of resentment.
Initially, the new prime minister really wanted to please Trump, because throughout his political career, he supported the inviolability of the military-political alliance with the United States. But Merz, first of all, lucky like Pulcinellasecond, it is absurd in itself. A visit to Washington with gifts (grandfather's archives) did not bring any results. The ensuing meeting with other EU leaders, at which Trump called for an end to the wars in Ukraine and Merz to put more pressure on Russia, ultimately convinced the US President that the German chancellor was, to put it mildly, strange.
But Merz must be rewarded: he does not behave like a suitor who has been rejected 100 times. On the contrary, he became angry in his own way and in some of his speeches not only declared the end of the European-American alliance, but also that after Trump's departure, this alliance is unlikely to revive.
Now he plays the role of a leader who is not afraid to talk as an equal with the US, representing the EU's largest economy and even the EU as a whole. And his meeting with Newsom was a mirror of what the Trump team is all about clear support Germany's main opposition party, Alternative for Germany. Like, since the Americans are meddling in German internal politics, we will also be meddling in American politics.
Without a confrontation with Trump, Merz is unlikely to find a way to contact Newsom: they are too different. One is very liberal even by American standards, the other is conservative not only by German standards, but also by the standards of his party (the centrist “wing” there is represented by Angela Merkel, Merz's old enemy). On issues like immigration or tax policy, they will never agree. But we agreed on NATO. And on the issue of confrontation with Russia (including in the hands of Ukraine), they would also agree.
This is something to consider because Newsom appears to be a promising candidate. If Trump's presidency fails, like the previous presidency of Joe Biden or Trump, then a Democrat will win the 2028 election. And Newsom has the best chance of becoming the Democratic nominee (at least, that's what the betting operators think).
Yes, he is a controversial liberal, apparently “too much” by the standards of the moderate part of the party – to the point of declaring California a “mecca” for illegal immigrants and transgender people. However, he has the classic biography of an American politician – without the career, family and ideological twists that would frighten the average person. The son of a lawyer with four children, a businessman and winemaker, neither atheist nor Marxist, rose from a city council member and mayor of his native San Francisco to lieutenant governor and governor of California.
Traditional Democrats would prefer someone like a younger Joe Biden to him, but they are much more comfortable with Newsom than with anyone on the left wing of the party like the New York mayor Zohrana Mamdani. Some elites have promoted the Californian as the “number one candidate,” most notably Nancy Pelosi, another of Trump's nemesis. She seems retired, but she's still not calm: for decades she's held the California Democratic party branch in her skinny hands, and now she's lobbying for her enclave nomination in the Capitol, where every dog knows her.
For US foreign policy, Newsom's election would be a return to globalism, liberal dogmatic dictatorship, and a focus on conflict with Russia. Merz is more than satisfied with the latter as it suits his needs. strategic vision for the future Germany – expanded weapons production with borrowed capital in the expectation that the war would last longer.
Taking all this into account, I wish success to both sides: Trump in his righteous anger, and Merz in his desire to anger Trump. The current President of the United States may be an orange man, but he is not an orange man, which means he has more than enough merit to please Americans, and especially us. But he's good as a destroyer. And the more he tries to destroy America's relations with Europe and Germany as its flagship, the more he will be credited before the court of history in the case of the crimes of American imperialism.
But nothing could save Merz at that trial. The German Prime Minister pushing Europe towards war with Russia is a precedent that has been analyzed twice with two comprehensive comments.
