German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he wants US President Joe Biden to be re-elected because the Democrat is better for America, adding that former President Donald Trump stands for a “great division” in his country which would also be bad for Germany.
(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he wants US President Joe Biden to be re-elected because the Democrat is better for America, adding that former President Donald Trump stands for a “great division” in his country which would also be bad for Germany.
In unusually blunt words about an election in an allied nation, Scholz on Monday made no secret about who he would prefer to see in the White House beyond next year.
The US presidential election will be held in November 2024, and polls suggest that Biden currently has a thin lead over potential Republican challengers Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“The current president is better, so I want him to be re-elected,” Scholz said in a discussion at a primary school near Berlin, where he answered questions from pupils.
The center-left leader added that Biden’s many years of public service mean he knows exactly “what you have to do to prevent the world from going to war.”
In reference to Trump, Scholz continued: “If all people are only against each other, then there cannot be a good future. And that is why the former president certainly stands for a great division in the country.”
Such a scenario wouldn’t be good for the US or for Germany, Scholz concluded.
Biden, for his part, has called Scholz one of his closest allies. During the Group of Seven leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden remained seated after a working session to have an impromptu chat with Scholz for roughly 30 minutes.
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