After the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, it was followed by its unequivocal condemnation from the political world in Berlin. And Chancellor Olaf Scholz may not have personally spoken to Donald Trump on the phone after the world-shaking assassination attempt, as his spokesman Stephen Hebstreit told reporters at a government briefing, but it’s clear that everything that happened in Pennsylvania of the US leave a heavy imprint and may prepare the ground for political developments.

As Stephen Hempstreit revealed, on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington last week, Olaf Solz met with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. In the meantime, there will be a German presence, as usual, both at the Congress of the Republicans and the Democrats, as noted by Sebastian Fischer, the representative of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the government briefing on Monday.

Germany and the next US president…

However, according to analysts in Berlin as well as top officials, as time passes, the possibility of a second Trump term becomes increasingly visible. Democracies live by the democratic succession of persons in power, the government spokesman commented in response to questions from reporters on whether the German government is prepared for the scenario of Donald Trump’s re-election, after yesterday’s assassination attempt and taking into account his apparently fragile health current president Joe Biden.

“Always in democracies there is the possibility of a change of government. Something that makes this state attractive to citizens,” said Stephen Hempstreit. “But don’t underestimate Joe Biden’s campaign skills,” he added. “And from this point of view, it would be too early to believe that the American elections have been decided,” added the government spokesman, while German politicians, such as the Bavarian Christian Socialist Prime Minister Markus Zender, believe that Biden now has little chance of winning against Trump, urging him to withdraw his candidacy.

However, the statements of Michael Link, coordinator of Transatlantic Relations in the German parliament from the Liberal party, are also of interest, according to which the German government is already “intensively” preparing for the scenario of a new Trump presidency. He even speaks, according to the DLF radio network, of secret processes behind the scenes and expresses concern for “political stability in the US” due to the “dramatic polarization between the two political camps”.

Decision of the US parking Tomahawk

But regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election, Germany will continue to meet the NATO defense spending target of 2% of GDP. This was also seen from today’s government positions in Berlin.

As for what will happen next with the US announcement to send and park in Germany from 2026 long-range hypersonic Tomahawk missiles, capable of hitting targets even at a distance of more than 2,500 km, the chancellery through its representative said that this is clearly a decision of the “US government”.

According to the spokesman, the German government believes that the US would honor this commitment even if Donald Trump won the election.

Asked how long the US long-range systems are expected to be stationed in Germany, he said it is likely that the gaps the Europeans have in the field of precision weapons will be closed within the next decade.