German Foreign Office try to dunk on Trump's debate performance but get their numbers wrong and provoke the ire of a close adviser to the man who may well be the next president of the United States

In his debate with Kamala Harris, Donald Trump discussed allegations that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating the residents’ household pets:

And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States … A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.

Much later, in his closing statement, Trump remarked in passing on the folly of German energy policy:

… You [i.e., Harris] believe in things that the American people don’t believe in. You believe in things like, we’re not going to frack. We’re not going to take fossil fuel. We’re not going to do things that are going to make this country strong, whether you like it or not. Germany tried that and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants. We’re not ready for it. We can't sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision.

These statements so offended the German Foreign Office, that their social media interns betook themselves to the internet to win points among withered German cat ladies while unnecessarily increasing diplomatic tensions in the event of a Republican victory dunk on Trump with an absolutely fire tweet:

As sick burns go, this one did not turn out well.

First of all, this happened:

The relationship between Donald Trump and top German politicians is full of grievances, provocations and unpaid scores. Now it has one more twist – an exchange of blows on the internet platform X that is causing political turmoil, and could still cause considerable damage to Germany …

Trump’s confidante Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany, reacted promptly: “The blatant election interference by the German government is worse than that of Russia and Iran,” he said, and threatened: “We see this clearly and will react accordingly.”

Even otherwise reserved commentators such as Georgetown political scientist Emma Ashford offered criticism. “Maybe I’m old fashioned,” Ashford wrote, “but it seems like diplomatic malpractice for a country’s foreign office to take a side in the (close!) election of their primary security provider.”

To that comes the fact that the Foreign Office tweet was wrong: Germany’s “energy system” is not comprised of 50% renewables. That figure applies only to our electricity generation. The German Economics Ministry had to gently clarify this in comments; they did so in German, to spare their Foreign Office colleagues embarrassment before an American audience. Were our Economics Ministry more honest, they could have further explained that Germany did indeed reactivate several coal plants during the energy crisis of 2022, and that since the nuclear phase-out we are hard at work building new natural gas plants as well.

Trump, in other words, was basically correct, but that’s a side matter. What I would like to know, is how this shallow preening advances the interests of actual Germans, which is what the our Foreign Office is supposed to be doing. The all-too-obvious answer is that it doesn’t. This entire storm in a teacup is typical of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Office under the leadership of our empty-headed Green crusader Annalena Baerbock, who has arrogated to herself and her office the role of global moral scold. This woman is ever flying around the world for photo opportunities, giving speeches telling everybody else what they can to do be more upright, more upstanding and more morally acceptable liberals like herself.

It is a farcical clown show that has many snickering behind their fists at us:

If the German Foreign Minister has a favourite word, it is “must.” Something must always happen, preferably right away. During [Baerbock’s] trip to Egypt in January, she demanded that hospitals in Gaza “must be able to function.” After the massacre … on 7 October, she said: “The terror of Hamas must stop immediately.” Addressing Moscow in February 2023, she said: “The bombing must stop.” At the Green Party conference at the end of November, she demanded: “The drowning [of migrants] in the Mediterranean must stop.” In New York, she said: “We must work on UN reforms.” … With regard to the Supply Chain Act, she warned: “Europe must be able to rely on Germany.” On the conflict in Sudan, she remarked: “We must increase the pressure on both sides.”

On and on it goes like this, across all domains, from social policy to industrial electricity prices. Annalena Baerbock obviously knows what should happen. She knows what she and we and everyone else must do. She has an idea of what the world should be like. It should be fairer, more humane, less painful, more moral, more inclusive – and certainly more feminist.

Baerbock’s schoolmarmery reflects the moral narcissism that is endemic among the urbanite, right-thinking, Green-voting German elite. Their attitude arises from what I call the ‘small country effect,’ whereby lesser nations in the shadow of dominant powers strive to outcompete their betters on the moral plane at least. This dynamic explains a great part of Trudeau-era Canadian politics, and also the similar tendencies of European countries to indulge in expensive and self-defeating progressive projects.

If Trump wins a second term, these people will go absolutely bananas.