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Trump plans ‘maximum disruption’ to ‘constitutional order’, Germany’s ambassador warns
Germany’s envoy to the US warned the Trump administration will weaken police and media independence, granting big tech ‘co-governing power’
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Germany’s ambassador to the United States has warned that the incoming Trump administration will rob US police and the media of their independence and hand big tech companies “co-governing power”, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters.
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The briefing document, dated January 14 and signed by Ambassador Andreas Michaelis, describes US president-elect Donald Trump’s agenda for his second White House term as one of “maximum disruption” that will bring about “a redefinition of the constitutional order – maximum concentration of power with the president at the expense of Congress and the federal states”.
“Basic democratic principles and checks and balances will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, big tech will be given co-governing power,” it says.
Trump’s transition team had no immediate comment on the ambassador’s assessment.
The German foreign ministry said US voters chose Trump in a democratic election, and it would “work closely with the new US administration in the interests of Germany and Europe”.
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The outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has largely refrained from direct public criticism of Trump since the election, but the ambassador’s confidential assessment offers a blunt view from a senior German official.
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