Liebich was far from alone in his assessment of Grenell’s first few weeks on the job. Martin Schulz, the former chancellor candidate and leader of the center-left Social Democrats, said Grenell sounded more “like a far-right colonial officer” than a diplomat in his Breitbart interview; Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of Liebich’s Die Linke, called for Grenell’s expulsion from Germany. Things started off rocky behind closed doors, too, as Grenell clashed with top Foreign Office officials in his first days in the job. The ambassador is, however, reportedly willing to learn from his mistakes and has since worked to tone down his Trumpian rhetoric: He apologized for the Breitbart controversy in a meeting with officials from the Foreign Office, according to someone with knowledge of the encounter, and has kept a lower profile in the weeks since the controversy. Even his Twitter feed has, it seems, been tamer in recent weeks. But here in Berlin, Germans are still watching him very closely [...]
What Germans resented even more, it turns out, was an interview with the alt-right Breitbart published a few weeks later. When Grenell said in the multi-installment interview that it is his goal to “empower” conservatives across Europe, Berlin political types took those comments to refer to far-right populist parties like the Alternative for Germany. In the same interview, Grenell issued strong praise for Austria’s Kurz, whose hard-line immigration policies often put him at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany’s Foreign Office soon asked for “clarification” from Grenell, and German politicians began crying foul, calling the interview at best undiplomatic and at worst a fireable offense. Grenell later said his comments had been misconstrued: “The idea that I’d endorse candidates/parties is ridiculous,” he wrote on Twitter. “I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority — those who reject the elites & their bubble.” (The State Department also came to Grenell’s defense, with spokeswoman Heather Nauert saying, “Don’t we as Americans have the right to free speech?”) But even the choice of outlet — Breitbart has made no secret of its admiration for far-right populist parties across Europe — sent a clear message about the kind of audience Grenell seemed to want to reach in his new role. [...]
Since the furor over his Breitbart interview, Grenell has kept a somewhat lower profile, prompting those in Berlin who have met with him since to say he truly seems interested in learning from his early mistakes. Another meeting with Michaelis and others at the Foreign Office earlier this month, shortly after the Breitbart interview came out, was ultimately quite amicable, according to the Foreign Office official. Grenell apologized for the interview, the official said, and explained that he had not intended to cause such a stir. Peter Beyer, a member of Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats and the transatlantic coordinator in parliament, described the atmosphere at the meeting as “friendly and constructive,” but added that it included its fair share of “contentious issues.” What’s most important, Beyer says, is sitting down and discussing things face-to-face: “For me, speaking with each other instead of tweeting at each other is the right way to work together in partnership.”
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