Schroeder has always been an anti American POS. He was far worse in that regard than Merkel who isn’t overtly anti-American despite her other failings. Schroeder along with Chirac tried to unite Europe under Franco-Germany hegemony via expressly demonizing America even as America was providing their defense and giving them much better access to the US market inntrade than vice versa. Then he went straight on Russia’s payroll.
By the way, plenty of German elites share his views.
You nailed that one. Schroeder in a remarkable five year period...triggered probably 75-percent of Germans to dislike his character and public statements. If the CDU/CSU had just found a better candidate in 2002, Schroeder would have been voted out of office.
He infuriated the SPD voters by almost immediately picking up a Gasprom job with the Russians, and in a brief one week period...the public news media dumped all mention of his name. No one would bring the job, his past credits or anything.
As badly as Merkel rates today....I think Schroeder was even more marginal. He looked like a million-Euro man and knew precisely how to carry on a public conversation...but the only thing he accomplished to be remembered over...was the total change to the welfare program of Germany.
This will please their soon-to-be Muslim overlords. Not enough to spare their lives, mind you. But perhaps enough to make it a clean beheading as opposed to being burned alive in a cage.
Time to pull our troops out of Germany and let the Krauts fend for themselves At no time in our nations history has Germany ever been our ally or friend. Never.