German MP: ‘Toxic Mixture’ Of Trump, Pence & Bolton Endangers Europe’s Security

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Advisor John Bolton – best known for their “erratic and aggressive” traits – are a “toxic mixture” that leaves Europe less secure, a reputable German MP warned.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government hoped that it could quietly wait for the Trump administration to end, but that was “a bitter illusion,” Jurgen Trittin, formerly minister for the environment and now a prominent Green Party MP, argued in an op-ed for Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.

The German politician proceeded to up the ante: “This is a toxic mixture, it endangers Europe’s security.”

In support of his claim, Trittin listed a number of important accords that were derailed or abandoned by the US, including the Paris climate change agreement, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and – most recently – the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty [INF]. Treaties aside, Trump also quit UNESCO.

Trittin is not the first German figure to raise concerns about Trump. Sigmar Gabriel, former vice-chancellor and foreign minister, has repeatedly labeled the US president “a threat to world peace” who wants “regime change” in Berlin.

Sentiments like these reflect what the German public makes of Trump’s policies. A 2018 poll revealed over three-quarters of Germans [79 percent] said they considered US President Trump to be a greater threat to world peace than his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

According to a 2019 survey by Civey, 85 percent of people in Germany saw US-German relations in a “negative” or even “very negative” light. Over 57 percent of Germans believed that their country should keep a greater distance from its ally across the Atlantic, while only 13 percent advocated closer ties.