Berlin – Donald Trump, having clinched the Republican Party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, threatens U.S. and world security with his “politics of fear and isolation,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday.
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Steinmeier told Reuters in a written interview that he was concerned about what he called Trump’s ambiguous vows to “make America strong again,” while simultaneously reducing its engagement overseas.
“That is contradictory and it makes me concerned,” Steinmeier said as he headed to Washington for meetings with other foreign and defense ministers to assess the U.S.-led effort to defeat the Islamic State extremist group.
“A politics of fear and isolation will bring less security, not more, and would be dangerous not only for the United States, but for Europe and the rest of the world as well.”
Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, has blasted Trump for months for his “America First” speech, while praising Democrat Hillary Clinton as an experienced foreign policy expert.
Trump on Tuesday secured the party’s 2016 nomination for the White House after vanquishing 16 party rivals, warring with much of his party’s establishment and already provoking controversy at the convention.
Steinmeier said the current crisis-charged world situation tempted people to look for easy answers. However the challenge was to find solutions that worked and did not rely on simple slogans or the erection of new barriers, he said.
The German politician was among the vocal critics of Trump’s first major foreign policy address in April, in which he repeatedly promoted an “America First” agenda, rejected last year’s nuclear deal with Iran, called for more investment in missile defense in Europe, and accused the Obama administration of tepid support for Israel.
Trump’s comments during the campaign – including calls to ban Muslims from the United States – have raised alarm in allied countries unnerved by the phrase “America First”, used in the 1930s by isolationists who sought to keep the United States out of World War Two.
Trumps politics are dangerous to Germanys wallet as they will be expected to pay up their fair share towards their own security as the free riding seems to be coming to an end
Minister of Common Sense: Germany’s politics of welcoming terrorists en mass as citizens a danger to the world.
And PS wait at least until all living Nazis have died out before lecturing the world on right or wrong.
German Foreign Minister should stay out of US politics and take care of Germany’s major problem of Islamic militants mixing into so-called refugees and asylum seekers, resulting in Islamist attacks on women, rapes and the latest ax attack by a “fake” refugee.
Ah well, Germans know how to tell others what to do but if anyone in Germany points out the problems caused by the flood of benefit seeking Muslims from all over, it is illegal and they get arrested.
Trumps politics are dangerous to Germanys wallet as they will be expected to pay up their fair share towards their own security as the free riding seems to be coming to an end
THey should worry about their own dangers with their population, we will take care of ourselves. GO Trump 2016!
How rude to yawn like that!
Germany knows alot about politics of fear, trying to scare the British people from leaving the eu
Those krauts have a lot of chutzpah for lecturing us! Their parents and grandparents watched as trains carried millions to their deaths. They claimed that they didn’t know of the existence of death camps. However, their claims have proven to be false. They’ve let in over 1,000,000 Muslims, and wonder why they now have problems (including an attack with an axe on a train the other day). What gall they have in lecturing us!!