Trump appointee Heather Nauert invokes D-Day while praising US-Germany relations

State department spokeswoman ridiculed for
saying Allied invasion in WWII showed strength of relationship with
government of Germany

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“We have a very strong relationship with the government of
Germany,” Heather Nauert said.

“Looking back in the history books, today is the 71st
anniversary of the speech that announced the Marshall Plan.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We obviously
have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we
have a strong relationship with the government of Germany.”

Nauert’s comments were mocked online with many pointing out the
spokeswoman had been hired directly from Fox News.

Saying “we have a very long history with Germany” because the
United States fought against Hitler and the Nazi Party in World War
II “sounds closer to a veiled insult, and certainly isn’t a
positive reflection of the closeness of Germany-US relations”, says
Vox.

The State Department spokeswoman’s gaff came while she defending
remarks made by the new US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell,
which drew condemnation from across Germany’s political
spectrum.

Grenell, a former US spokesman at the United Nations and a
strong supporter of Donald Trump, told the far-right Breitbart News he “absolutely wants to empower”
European conservatives who are “experiencing an awakening from the
silent majority”.

Grenell “turned heads when he did an interview with Breitbart”,
says CNN. The ambassador was criticised for
“politicising diplomacy at a time when US-German relations are
strained over Trump’s withdrawals from the Iran deal and the Paris
climate accord and his imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on
the European Union”, adds the broadcaster.

Grenell’s words were “widely received as Grenell weighing in on
German politics — against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centrist
government, and in favor of the right-wing Alternative for
Deutschland party”, says Vox.

Grenell later denied that this is what he meant, “but the damage
was done”, adds the website.