The Trump headaches are just not going away for Matthias Döpfner, CEO and majority owner of German publishing giant Axel Springer. Döpfner, who owns brands including Politico and Business Insider alongside German newspaper icons Bild and Die Welt – has always been more receptive to MAGAworld than most Europeans.
He has spoken supportively of Trump, arranged for Elon Musk to write a pro-AfD editorial for an Axel Springer paper, and has otherwise tried to ingratiate himself with Trump and his circle, even before doing so was fashionable.
But even Döpfner, it seems, has a line. The executive has written an editorial under his own byline in Die Welt, saying outright that Volodymyr Zelensky should not have been “thrown out of the White House like a schoolboy who hasn’t done his homework”, adding that this was no way for a country that has been invaded to be treated by an ally – unless that ally “has changed sides”.
Döpfner might have arrived late to Trump alarmism – if only there had been someone to warn him – but his editorial is at least stark. Trump’s America is sacrificing Ukraine… for a transactional “America First” and “America Only” strategy,” he concludes. “If Europe abandons Ukraine, Europe will fall.”
As they used to say during Trump’s first term: Matthias Döpfner… welcome to the resistance?
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