Trump blows hot and cold on German roots
DONALD TRUMP, who launched a scathing tirade of criticism against Germany at yesterday’s Nato summit, has not always been so hostile.
Only a few years ago, he was touting Germany as the land of his forefathers.
“I have great German heritage. I’m very proud of it. Great place,” he said at the time. However, until the Eighties, Mr Trump maintained, including in his book The Art of the Deal, that his grandfather was Swedish.
It wasn’t true. Frederick Trump, or
Friedrich as he was originally named, was born in Kallstadt, Germany.
He emigrated to the US in 1885 and made his fortune during the gold rush in Alaska. And the story that he came from Sweden appears to have been an attempt by the family to obscure their
origins amid anti-german feeling in the US following the First World War.
Mr Trump kept up the story that his family was Swedish for many years before finally dropping it. “Well, he spent time in Sweden,” he told the Boston Globe. “And he talked about Swedish because … we happened to be at war with Germany, which I guess makes sense in a lot of ways doesn’t it?”
The president’s latest remarks seemed to be aimed more at Angela Merkel than Germany in general. But initial indications were that his broadside served to rally Germans behind the chancellor.