America Is No Longer a Role Model – But It Is Still the Best Friend the Germans Could Wish For

The Federal Republic of Germany’s bond with the West is a success story. It deserves to be defended, now more than ever.

When Joe Biden visits Germany this Thursday and Friday for the last time as U.S. president, he will meet a chancellor on whom he could always rely. Olaf Scholz said in advance of the meeting that he was looking forward to seeing Biden. Collaboration with the U.S. and Germany’s incorporation into NATO, he said, are a constant in German politics that is now being called into question. “That is wrong,” Scholz warned. “It is a threat to our security.” Indeed.

Germany’s bond with the West is a success story. It has gifted the Germans three-quarters of a century of prosperity and security. It deserves to be defended against its domestic opponents and, if necessary, against the next American president, in case that president is named Donald Trump and continues the “America First” policy from his first term. From Germany’s perspective as trading nation, that particularly applies to Trump’s destructive belief in tariffs.

Bond Does Not Mean Blind Loyalty

Behind the reference to Trump is the conviction that a bond with the West does not equate to blind loyalty. To the contrary, the United States has long ceased to be a role model for other Western countries. America’s society is deeply divided, the culture wars are alienating and it has a poor image in most places.

The fentanyl epidemic has made San Francisco and Los Angeles look more like zombie TV series “The Walking Dead” than cities in the world’s most powerful country. In recent times, the politics of American presidents have hardly been a blessing for the rest of the world. In Afghanistan or Syria, for instance, such politics led to debacles with consequences that Germany, too, is still having to manage today in the huge flow of refugees.

Why remain loyal to a superpower that is so hollowed-out domestically and causes so much damage internationally? It’s a legitimate question — and it would be unwise to dismiss all criticism of the U.S. as “anti-American.” Those who do so, including many self-declared trans-Atlantic supporters, do not convince anyone who was not already convinced. They only deepen the trenches that the real anti-Americans are digging. And these individuals are more influential than ever in Germany. They come from the left and from the right, and they are finding receptive audiences in the East, in particular.

Left and Right-Wing Anti-Americanism

As of late, they include the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance, which uses every opportunity to present NATO as a warmonger and American interests as polar opposite to those of Germany. They have also included the Alternative for Germany for a much longer period, even if AfD supports NATO in its party platform and describes the U.S. as a “partner.” Leading members like Björn Höcke, the recently victorious politician from Thuringia, talk and think otherwise. For them, the U.S. is not a country with blemishes; it is a global power with malicious intent.

In his 2018 book, “Never Twice in the Same River,” for example, Höcke claims that the United States is pursuing a double strategy to destabilize the Islamic region and “very intentionally” promoting mass migration of Muslims to Europe, where they “incite social conflicts and threats of Islamic terrorism.” He provides no evidence in support of either claim.

Such stories have a long tradition in Germany. As students, the left-wing bourgeoisie who are now retired fantasized about Marxist revolutionaries like Che Guevara and Ho Chi Minh, railing at the American way of life in general and the belief in the creative power of free markets in particular. Many on the right agreed, albeit for different reasons. For them, the U.S. was and still is the destroyer of traditional values at home and the empire that wants to keep Germany small and dependent.

The horseshoe of Germans who oppose the U.S. is not new. But given its election wins, it demands new responses. Two thoughts may be useful.

First, the bond with the West is important not because of but despite the United States’ current image and behavior. It’s about the idea of America. The fundamental values of its Declaration of Independence and Constitution are not just slightly better; they are far superior to those of the world’s other, authoritarian superpowers. Rule of law, separation of powers, free market economy, the right of every citizen to the pursuit of happiness — a happiness that is self-defined, not imposed.

Preferably with Russia? Or China?

Second, America deserves criticism, but it is also able to deal with criticism. People discuss all the aforementioned shortcomings and mistakes even in the country itself, openly, rigorously, and without state monitoring. That would be life-threatening in Russia and in China. Everyone who asks if a “block-free” Germany would be better must be reminded of that. In theory, their polarization sounds good. But the reality of international politics is different. Large nations and superpowers have always divided the world into zones of influence. Germany and Europe, which is divided on the subject of security, would not be a neutral zone without America’s patronage. It would be an invitation to others, authoritarian powers in this case, to fill the hole.

And that brings us back to Biden and Scholz. The trans-Atlantic alliance has not looked as weak as it does with these two leaders for a long time. One is no longer fit for office due to his age; the other is overwhelmed by his coalition. But the fact that both men are committed to the idea of the West is a reason to be glad, especially for the Germans.

The West is down for the count. But it can recover. It is certainly better than the alternatives.