During her contemplation of 3 American presidents

Merkel extends the cord of friendship to Bush .. and befriends Obama .. and has a poisonous relationship with Trump

  • Merkel befriended Bush.

    From the source

  • Obama was her best friend.

    From the source

  • Merkel's relationship with Trump was not successful.

    From the source

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"I had a friendly conversation with former US President George W. Bush, at a barbecue party she invited him to in Germany, and she had a good spirit and a solid friendship with Barack Obama, but it was between her and Donald Trump what made the mourning." These few lines summarize the relationship of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. , with former US presidents, as she arrives in Washington to meet President Joe Biden, in her last days in office.

During her 16 years in office, Merkel has experienced countless foreign counterparts, including three US presidents. She led Germany through the three years of Bush's second term, all eight of Obama, and the turbulent four years of Trump.

Bush.. Post-Schroeder warmth

When Merkel took office in 2005, the relationship between the White House and the German chancellery was at an all-time low.

In 2003 and 2004, Bush clashed with Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, over America's invasion of Iraq, due to Germany's non-participation (or non-involvement) in that war.

Things got so bad that the then US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said that there was a "poisonous atmosphere" between the two governments.

Merkel, then, came as an opportunity for a fresh start with Bush, who happily seized it.

After their first meeting at the White House in 2006, Bush admired his German counterpart, saying that she gave him a "really refreshing opportunity to work with her" and that he was "happy" to cooperate with her.

"We now have an opportunity to start a new chapter in our relationship," he also said at the time.

Like Bush's open style, Merkel had a warm and easy relationship with him.

Bush visited Merkel's home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2006, where the two had barbecue and a tour of Merkel's parliamentary district.

He returned the favor in 2007, when he invited her to Crawford, Texas, for an informal visit at the Bush family farm.

This grandfather was not without humor. During the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006, Bush came stalking her and quickly slapped her on the shoulder, in a sarcastic sight, to which she responded with obvious annoyance, but she accepted her counterpart's sense of humor.

This scene attracted the headlines of the world's newspapers at the time.

Obama..a close and prosperous partnership

In his final months in office, Obama traveled to Berlin for a private visit to see Merkel, and during that trip, in November 2016, Obama called Merkel a "distinguished partner" and praised her "integrity, honesty, and good sense," saying that if he were a German voter He would definitely choose it for another state.

By the time he left office in 2017, the two politicians had established a relationship filled with goodwill and mutual understanding.

Trump... a 180 degree turnتحو

When Merkel visited Trump at the White House, a few months after taking office, in March 2017, the two sat close to each other in the Oval Office for a photo. When reporters asked Trump to shake her hand, Merkel turned to Trump and asked, "Do you really want to shake hands?" That moment clouded their relationship over the next four years, and it boiled down to a series of miscommunication, fundamental disagreements, and a lack of personal warmth. "The personal relationship turned 180 degrees from Obama to Donald Trump, and it was a challenge for everyone," said Christian Democratic Party politician Peter Baer.

Trump's comments about Merkel during his 2016 election campaign paved the way for a rocky relationship between them, when he commented on Merkel's decision to allow more than a million refugees into Germany "she should be ashamed of herself" and when he discovered that Merkel had been named Person of the Year by a magazine Time, Trump tweeted, "They chose someone who would destroy Germany."

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