A leader of Germany’s top opposition party has taken a jab at US President Donald Trump, saying the businessman-turned-politician should devote more energy to governing and less to tweeting.
“Donald Trump should focus more on policies and less on tweeting and Twitter,” Alice Weidel, one of the heads of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD), said at a news conference in Berlin on Monday.
“If I had a wish list, then I would wish that Donald Trump would focus more on cleaning up his own house, and being a little more devoted to his governing responsibilities,” she added.
Weidel, however, blamed the media for painting what she called an "absolutely exaggerated" picture of Trump.
The right-wing AfD party hopes to enter the German Parliament in the September 24 election, in which conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to win a fourth term.
Weidel’s comments came as even right-wing leaders in Europe are seeking to distance themselves from the American president largely because of his unbecoming style and blunders.
Trump was widely criticized for his handling of the racially charged clashes at the August 12 rally in Charlottesville and faced sharp rebukes from members of Congress, military leaders and major business executives.
The president equivocated in denouncing the white supremacists and neo-Nazis and put blame on “both sides” for the violence that left one woman dead and 20 others injured when a suspected Nazi sympathizer rammed his car into the counter-protesters.