Germany’s respected weekly news publication Der Spiegel doesn’t much care for Donald Trump. But after the U.S. president announced the nation is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, the magazine pulled out all the stops, portraying Trump on its cover as a blond-mopped middle finger flipping off all of Europe. “Goodbye, Europe!” says the digit.
The magazine, which hit newsstands Friday, has already triggered an avalanche of comments. A tweet featuring the cover was quickly retweeted by Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the U.S.
Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas lamented the fact that the image is how Europe now regards the U.S. “When America First actually means America Alone, the United States is significantly weaker,” he tweeted.
The cover, created by artist Edel Rodriquez, is accompanied inside by a scathing editorial. “Clever resistance is necessary, as sad and absurd as that may sound: Resistance against America,” states the piece.
Trump’s life is built on falsehoods: Women don’t actually lust after him, he is not a skilled businessman and he has no strategy, states Der Spiegel. “Trump is only proficient in destruction.”
His decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal “marks the temporary suspension of the trans-Atlantic alliance.” He is again bringing “chaos where there was once order,” the magazine says.
“Our relationship to the United States cannot currently be called a friendship and can hardly be referred to as a partnership,” says Der Spiegel. “The West as we once knew it no longer exists. It is impossible to overstate what Trump has dismantled in the last 16 months.”