Status: 16.01.2024, 13:03 PM
By: Christian Stör
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There is little doubt that the Republicans will once again send Donald Trump into the presidential race. Reactions in Germany have been restrained. © JIM WATSON/AFP
Donald Trump triumphs in Iowa. The Republican primaries seem almost decided. How are politicians reacting in Germany?
Berlin/Des Moines – As expected, Donald Trump wins in Iowa. All the polls had put the former president clearly ahead – and that's how it turned out. In the first Republican primary for the party's presidential nomination in the 2024 U.S. election, Trump was able to crush the competition. Above all, the speed caused astonishment: Only about 30 minutes after the start of the vote, several TV channels declared Trump the winner.
His loyalists immediately hailed Trump's triumph in Iowa as "incredible" and "historic." The primaries are practically over, for example, the prominent Republican Senator Lindsey Graham wrote on Platform X. Meanwhile, Elise Stefanik from the House of Representatives leadership called on Trump's competitors to drop out of the race. No one has a chance to win against Trump, it said in a statement.
| Candidate | Earnings in percent |
|---|---|
| Donald Trump | 51,0 |
| Ron DeSantis | 21,2 |
| Nikki Haley | 19,1 |
| Vivek Ramaswamy | 7,7 |
(Source: New York Times, almost 95 percent of the votes counted, as of January 16, 12:40 p.m.)
Politicians in Germany react to Trump's clear success in the Republican primaries in Iowa
Meanwhile, politicians in Germany have also reacted to Trump's success. The SPD politician Katarina Barley warned that a man who makes no secret of his contempt for democracy threatens to become president in the USA. Trump is only interested in his personal advantage – like Orban or Putin, the SPD top candidate for the European elections also wrote on X. Europe must now reflect on itself.
According to Green Party politician Agnieszka Brugger, a radicalization course under Trump has negative consequences for an international policy that aims at security, solidarity and the preservation of international law even in the run-up to the election. The current debate in Congress on aid for Ukraine shows how dangerous isolationism in large parts of the Republicans is also for European security, said the vice-chairman of the Greens, according to the statement. "This makes it all the more necessary these days for Germany to send even stronger and long-term substantial signals of support to Ukraine from the centre of Europe, and for the EU to quickly strengthen its ability to act and sovereignty, especially in matters of foreign and security policy."
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Trump's election "absolutely possible" according to CDU foreign policy expert Röttgen after Iowa primary of the Republicans
According to CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen, Germany must prepare for a possible second term for Trump. "The hoped-for surprise failed to materialize," Röttgen told the Tagesspiegel. "Now at the latest, the federal government must prepare more intensively than before for Trump's return to the White House."
Trump's re-election as U.S. president is now "absolutely possible," Röttgen said. He had received "an additional psychological push". Röttgen's call for preparation for Trump includes, among other things, "that we have to ramp up our arms production in such a way that Ukraine can defend itself against the Russian attack even without US help." Europe's freedom depends on this, the CDU foreign policy expert stressed.
CDU increases pressure on traffic light to prepare for Trump after Iowa Republican primary
Other CDU politicians are also increasing the pressure on the traffic light coalition to prepare for a new Trump term in office. "The German government can no longer ignore domestic political developments in the United States. The U.S. is too important as a partner for that," said the foreign policy spokesman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jürgen Hardt (CDU), the German Press Agency. The Republican primaries in Iowa showed two things: "40 percent did not vote for Trump. And yet it's high time to prepare for a President Trump."
The parliamentary secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei (CDU), said Trump had achieved a better result than eight years ago in the same place. We have to prepare for the fact that Trump will come out on top in the end. "Then Germany and Europe will have to learn to walk and grow up," Frei said. He called it "irresponsible to go into such a situation so unprepared." The Union is always available for talks with the traffic light to find a solution to the question of how to position itself strong and resilient. The Bundeswehr must become war-ready and capable of defending itself, and civil protection must also be strengthened. (cs/dpa)