ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump’s domestic drama threatens to overshadow a coming G7 summit, and a recent meeting with the German chancellor — with quips about World War II — suggests awkward moments could overtake the confab in Canada, which Trump has proposed making the “51st state.”
The question of how much German militarization should be allowed is typically an unspoken white elephant in the Oval Office when a chancellor pays a visit. Not so when Trump is the U.S. leader seated beside his German counterpart.
“I know that you’re spending more money on defense now and quite a bit more money, and that’s a positive thing. I’m not sure that Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur would have said it’s positive. He wouldn’t like it, but I sort of think it’s good,” Trump said during a Thursday meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, appearing to joke about the reluctance among other countries to allow Germany to rearm after the two world wars.
