Political scientist Kaiser
Berlin has “silent contact” with Trump’s whisperers
27.06.2024, 05:00 a.m.
According to the German-American political scientist Karl Kaiser, plans are being made in all European governments for one eventuality: that Donald Trump will become US President again. Germany must “keep calm” if Trump becomes President, he says – but he sees increased demands precisely in this case.
The German-American political scientist Karl Kaiser, who has been teaching at Harvard University for around twenty years, sees the German government’s contacts with Donald Trump’s entourage in preparation for a new US presidency. “Berlin, other EU states and Brussels have made quiet contact with possible Trump advisors and possible officials of a Trump administration. The governments are thinking about how Europe should behave,” Kaiser told the “Tagesspiegel” according to a preliminary report: “Plans are being made for this eventuality everywhere.”
If Trump becomes president after the US elections in November, “the European contribution to the defense of Ukraine must increase significantly,” said the 89-year-old Kaiser, former director of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), who advised many transatlantic committees and associations for decades.
“The Chancellor will then become the leader of the West”
In view of a possible withdrawal of the USA from supporting Ukraine, “Germany would have no choice but to lead independently, said Kaiser. The Chancellor would then become the leader of the West.” Hopefully this will be achieved in close consultation with France. “If Ms. Le Pen succeeds Macron in 2027, then Germany will have to lead Europe politically even more strongly than before.”
Germany must “keep calm” under a President Trump and must not “succumb to panic,” said Kaiser. Berlin must try to stay in contact with the new administration and at the same time “strengthen all European structures, significantly increase the German defense budget, and modernize the Bundeswehr in cooperation with the Europeans and NATO.”