German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday, Feb. 4, with a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.
It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue’s head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: “America First”.
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The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany’s Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as “tasteless”.
European tourists outside Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate also had mixed feelings about the provocative cover.
“I find it too severe for the beginning. Sure, he has made statements that I personally do not find good. But nonetheless, perhaps he can grow in his role. He should get the chance,” said Gerhard Sohn, a tourist from Tirol, Austria.
“The man’s an idiot, he’s an animal. Yeah, god help us all. What more can you say? He’s a narcissist, he’s just everything that’s wrong with a human being,” said Craig McVain, a tourist from Scotland.
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The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin’s policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in Germany’s relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as “an outstanding partner.”
Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a “catastrophic mistake” with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a “grossly undervalued” euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.
No one at the U.S. embassy in Berlin was available for comment on the Spiegel cover.
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