If Trump is now the developer-in-chief, it seems that Vance has become the troll-in-chief. After attempting to prove that the Pope knows less about the Catholic Church’s position on the treatment of immigrants than he does, he flew into Munich and demanded in the name of democracy that the EU countries–the Germans in particular– stop excluding right-wing extremists from power. All of the German parties to the left of the AfD were, as you would expect, highly offended by this outrageous intrusion into their domestic politics. What is Vance trying to do here? How does America benefit when he insults our allies?
In the short run, there is no obvious answer to that question. In the longer run, one of Trump’s objectives is to split the EU; I suspect his ill-defined plan for reciprocal tariffs will treat some favored European countries (Hungary and Italy, to name two) better than others. The poor Germans, with their massive trade surplus, will be among Trump’s designated punching bags. Will the EU stand as one against the tariffs, or will Trump divide and conquer? Either way, I think insulting the Germans foreshadows the turmoil to come.