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'Backfired spectacularly': European officials reportedly now view US as an 'adversary'
(www.rawstory.com)
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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United States | News & Politics
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Let's not make the same mistake that was made in the US:
The people who - rightfully - lost respect for the US and now consider it an adversary are German diplomats, politicians and the press. But the ones with the voting power are the German public. And if German voters are anything like American voters, there may be a deep disconnect between them and the elites.
And so despite the outrage of the people who know better, the German population might just as easily vote for fascists in Germany as they did in the US.
My point being, we'll know if Vance's speech backfired when the German elections are over. I'm not so optimistic that it did.
The behavior of the USA was condemned by both left- and right-wing parties in Germany. The only party that didn't condemn the behavior, the far right party, is expected to get no more than 20% of the vote. So even though their popularity doubled from last election, which is a significant shift, they're still a minority who won't affect Germany's foreign policies.
Let's not downplay the threat of the AFD. 20% is a lot - more than enough to at least pull the Overton window to the right, like Reform is doing in the UK