The featured image photo above was released by the Office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
By releasing the photo, Merkel signaled that she viewed it as portraying her favorably. She was standing above Trump, with most of the other G-7 nations having her back visually (other than Japanese Prime Minister Abe).
If the NY Times put the photo on its front page, you know the Editors thought it made Trump look bad:
That’s pretty much the reading the mainstream media and anti-Trump social media is giving the photo. That the photo shows the U.S. isolated even among its allies, that Trump looks weak, and that we need to defer to Germany and other allies on trade and security issues. It also is another occasion for the fevered swamps of Russia-collusion theories to accuse Trump of being Putin’s puppet in splitting the West.
This is clearly one of those Rorschach Test-type photos, so people can read into it what they want.
But I think the anti-Trump reading of the photo ignores what happened in 2016. Is Trump standing up to foreign leaders to pursue what he views as a pro-American position really a negative? Trump supporters, and I think a lot of independents, will view this photo much more favorably.
I think Seth Mandel had it right:
… if anyone thinks this Steffen Seibert photo is going to hurt Trump with voters I really don’t think you’ve been paying attention”The Germans and French are angry with Trump, so vote Democrat” is… well let me just say, I wouldn’t advise Dems to run with this one
So who won in this photo?
Poll Open Until Midnight (Pacific Time) On Monday Night, June 11
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
