German public TV (ARD, Channel One) carried a short piece tonight.....hyping up the German perception of the German-American relationship as pessimistic.
The German deal? 64 percent of Germans (via a Korber Foundation poll) say the relationship is 'bad' or 'very bad'.
The US deal? Roughly 75-percent of Americans say that the US-German relationship is 'good' or 'very good'.
I sat and pondered over the difference, and will offer three observations:
1. A lot of what is described as 'bad' or 'very bad'....if you went and asked the German about this....it goes directly back to Trump. If you had any Democrat President, then the German perception would flip over a one-month period and be very near 50 to 70 percent 'good or very good'.
I know....it's a silly thing to suggest, but public TV since November of 2016.....has been on a roll, and it really doesn't matter what Trump says or does....it's all bad from this point,
2. Do Germans actually worry about the relationship? No. You can walk into any German pub and put the topic to a dozen working-class people, and frankly, they've got a hundred things that they rate higher as an issue, and they really don't care.
It's been that way for a long time, and the TV journalists have never grasped that end of the spectrum.
3. Finally, not that it really matters, but most American really don't track German events. Most probably could not name the Chancellor, with 5-percent maybe even naming Kohl (he's been out of office for over 20 years). There's more going on with Mexico, and Americans might track there than they do with most of the European countries.
So a big deal, about nothing? More or less.
Don't worry....either in one year, or five years....President Trump will finally go, and some Democrat will show up. Germans will weep over the arrival....get emotional (chatty about JFK), and talk about the wonderful arrival of intellectuals to repair the German-American relationship. If they want to believe that 'path'.....let them.
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