It's been a long week for President Donald Trump. He faces fallout over his baseless allegations that he was wiretapped by President Barack Obama (and the Brits), both his health care plan and budget are unpopular, and yet he's pushing through.
The president now hosts Angela Merkel, the leader of Germany and someone whom Trump has not spoken highly of.
"I like her, but I think it was a mistake. And people make mistakes, but I think it was a very big mistake," Trump told a German newspaper in January about Merkel's decision to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees to her country. In December 2015, Trump had declared Merkel was "ruining Germany."
Trump's swipes at Merkel have revolved around Trump's hatred of immigration, especially from Muslims, which he's long pointed to as purveyors of violence in the U.S.
For their part, German officials have been wary of Trump, openly doubting whether the U.S. president can act presidential. "We all know the word post-factual," Merkel said in January — with a pointed dig at Trump. "It means how we think about a topic is more about the emotion and less about the situation. But when the mood counts more than the facts, then — at least — in politics we are getting into a crisis of reasoning.”
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