Dear Chancellor Merkel,
Many Americans, myself included, viewed with alarm and deep embarrassment the news reports of Donald Trump’s very public remarks about your country at the NATO summit. I am quite sure you, who grew up under the thumb of the USSR in East Germany, found his statement that Germany is being controlled by Russia to be extremely reprehensible. It is a direct reflection of your good character and grace as a world leader that you did not respond in kind.
On behalf of a large majority of the citizens of my country’s citizen’s I want to apologize for the behavior our president. His recent remarks and his obvious attempts to weaken the NATO alliance do not represent our views or desires. Quite the opposite; American citizens with a decent appreciation of world history understand that NATO has proven to be one of the most successful alliances of all times and a bulwark in the defense of peace.
We deeply appreciate the 5,350 soldiers and policemen which Germany committed to our defense as part to the NATO response in Afghanistan after we were attacked on 9/11. In particular we greatly appreciate the ultimate sacrifices of the 57 German soldiers and policemen who were killed during that mission. Their deaths in our defense must serve to strengthen the bond between our two countries which must never be broken.
Many of us here in the United States have come to view Trump’s presidency as a very unfortunate aberration after he was elected by the slimmest of margins in our Electoral College after losing the popular vote by three million ballots. Anyone who understands American politics is well aware that if it were not for ill timed and ill considered revelations by the FBI Director right before the election and the assistance of Russian agents who interfered in our electoral process in his behalf, Trump’s candidacy would have been consigned to the ash bin of history.
Since taking office, Trump’s job approval numbers have never been in positive territory. I will also wager that a goodly number of the 40% of Americans who continue to support him in polls are doing so purely out of party loyalty and most of the rest are just too ignorant to understand that he is constantly deceiving and playing them.
Most of us in this country are deeply puzzled and dismayed by Trump’s very public attacks on our country’s closest allies, including Germany, while he has embraced tyrannical dictators such as Vladimir Putin who are sworn enemies of our country. However, even with the present absence of solid evidence it is easy to conclude that his attacks on our closest NATO allies, his statements that NATO is obsolete, and his defense of a sworn enemy like Russia are not unrelated. Intentionally or not It is readily apparent Trump is following Putin’s game plan of weakening the NATO alliance so that Russia can expand its influence and again exert its power over neighboring countries as it did during the Soviet era. Obviously, he cannot be allowed to be successful.
However, despite the damage he is presently inflicting, please remember that Trump is an aberration, the product an electoral accident which we, the majority of the American voters, intend to rectify as soon as possible. Hopefully, in the 2018 Congressional elections Democrats will be able to take control of at least one house of Congress. This will enable Congress to check many of Trumps excesses. Then in the 2020 Presidential election we are dead set of removing him from the White House if that doesn’t occur earlier through the process of impeachment and conviction by the Senate.
Until we can rectify the present situation here in the United States please hold fast to the principles which have guided the NATO for the last 70 years. It is incumbent on you and the other strong leaders of our allies in NATO and around the world to fill the leadership role formally held by the United States which Trump has effectively be abrogated. Until then please again accept our apologies and be aware that we are doing everything in our power to correct our mistake as soon as possible and ensure that it never happens again.
Cajun 7/12/2018