It might be a weak assessment of the current situation in the USA to highlight character as the decisive difference between Trump and Biden. But character (ethics) in the political arena tells us a lot about fundamental political frameworks, which could not be further apart today between Republicans and Democrats. Considering who has served in the US government under Trump so far, with so many individuals having been hired and fired, indicted and convicted, we can gain a clear sense of what is critically wrong with the current President and his team. Who in the White House might not face criminal prosecution once Trump is no longer in power? Trump can pardon as many people as he wants, his might does not make right!

Now, a new case in point, the US ambassador to Germany. The last one, Richard Grenell, was just hated by everyone in Germany, and he was very successful in making himself to a persona non grata in virtually all political sectors, apart from the far-right proto-fascists. He resigned (in disgrace?) already after two years on the job on June 1, 2020, and his replacement has now been identified, Douglas Macgregor, a retired Army colonel, nominated by Trump on July 29, still waiting to go through his Senate hearing.

Let us speak proverbially to understand this move by Trump: Tell me whom you employ, and I am going to tell you who you are. Macgregor slammed the US intervention in the Kosovo War in 1999, when Christian Serbians committed a genocide against the Muslim Kosovars and others. Macgregor has publicly identified NATO a zombie organization; he has called for the closure of many military bases especially in Europe; he has identified the asylum seekers and immigrants to Europe as a Muslim phalanx to conquer the old continent and to make it to an Islamic territory; he has argued that Germany should simply ignore its Nazi past and move forward, basking in the glory of its long and successful history, whereas the Holocaust was, in the words of the leader of the proto-fascist German party AfD, Gauland, nothing but ‘bird-shit’ in German history. Macgregor publicly promoted shooting illegal immigrants at the US border to Mexico and to militarize it altogether; and he publicly defended Russia’s illegal occupation of the Crimea and the eastern and southern part of the Ukraine (and this on Russian TV!) as completely justified. He also promoted the massive withdrawal of US troops from Germany, certainly music in Putin’s ears, because Macgregor believes that Germany does not have the will to defend itself against a potential attack by Russia. In his eyes, Germany does not even have a military, and this although the German military budget was $50 billion in 2019, 1.3-1.6 of the GDP. In his opinion, the German government spends all of its money as hand-outs to Muslim immigrants, a gross lie and deliberate misinformation by someone who has spent time in Germany and claims to know how to speak German. In 2018, he called Angela Merkel and her ministers “this extremely bizarre government”

He believes that the Democrats pursue the sinister plan to bring in as many immigrants to this country to cement their own power and thus to make all the US look like California. With his bullying strategies, ruthless approaches, complete lack of any diplomatic skills, he would, indeed, be a perfect representative of the Trump government in Germany, but certainly not of the American people. He is of the same thread as many of the other public servants under Trump, obedient lackeys and sycophants.