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Politico owners praised the “inspired message” of JD Vance’s speech, which was terrified in Europe.
Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, said many people “deliberately misinterpreted” Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference last weekend. Or China.
The US Vice President also called for an end to the far-right political isolation more than a week before the German federal election. In German federal elections, the German (AFD) party alternative is expected to secure a historic second-place finish.
The speech has brought a sharp response from leading German politicians, including Prime Minister Olaf Scholz and opposition leader Friedrich Merz. But Dopfner, a German citizen who co-owns the Berlin-based media empire, said that Vance’s intended message wanted Washington to work with Europe, but the continent first feared its people. He said that it means that they need to stop doing this.
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“To be honest, I think it’s an inspiring message,” he told the Financial Times in an interview with the podcast. “You don’t have to take everything literally, but you have to try to take it seriously. And (the fact) most Europeans just responded… In a kind of whimsical tone – it’s not smart, it’s a strategy It’s dangerous because it’s targeted, it requires a transatlantic security alliance and transatlantic trade relationships.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on EU goods and withdraw security guarantees on the continent.
US Vice President JD Vance shocked attendees at the Munich Security Conference last weekend © Tobias Schwartz/AFP/Getty Images
Dopfner, a self-proclaimed reversal against the “enslavement” of the so-called culture of awakening, has also made its seriousness as a “misunderstanding” of Trump’s recent Politico.
Axel Springer bought the outlet in 2021 as part of a push to the US media market.
Trump has been proud of politics this month as “left rags,” and 8 million from the US International Development Organization, an organization that the US president has moved to dramatically reduce. He falsely claimed he had received dollar funds.
Döpfner said Trump is disrupting subsidies along with subscriptions to commercial products. “This is nothing more than a misunderstanding,” he said. “And hopefully it becomes clear.”
But White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said “A subscription to Politico on the American taxpayer dime will no longer occur.”
The US President’s criticism of politics puts Dopfner in an unusual position to be criticized from the right. Axel Springer chief said it was “absolutely clear” that there was some truth to Trump and his supporters claim that there was leftist bias in mainstream media.
However, he said he hopes that the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech will be “supported for journalism you hate.”
Donald Trump is proud of Politico, who takes pride in political equity, as a “left rag.”
“For me, after two and a half years depicted in Germany as the center of a right-wing plot, I am now portrayed in America as the center of a left-wing plot,” he said. “To be honest, that’s exactly where there should be an independent publisher.”
Döpfner, 62, is a controversial German figure. Critics on the left in particular accusing his tabloid build and conservative broadsheet of melting and dying in pursuit of a right-wing agenda, including migration.
Döpfner was in a scandal four years ago when he was accused of protecting a former Bild editor and a protégé who claimed he was eventually fired after abused his powers by sleeping with staff. I was shaken up.
In 2023, Döpfner apologised after the release of leaked private text messages against “intolerant Muslims,” and “strengthened” the economically free Liberal Democrats two days before the election to Build’s editor I asked to do so.
Former music journalist – Became a billionaire overnight in 2020, the widow of the company’s founder sold 4% of his stake at Axel Springer, gave him 15% and handed him the right to vote. Despite expanding into the US market and seating on the Netflix board, we.
However, in 2020, he hit the headline after he emailed staff members who invited them to “pray” for Trump’s reelection. ”.
Axel Springer headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Chief Executive Matthias Dopner called for tiktok to be banned in Europe © Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
He also courts American tech entrepreneurs, including Tesla CEO and Trump supporter Elon Musk, who attended his 60th birthday party in Tuscany.
He texted Musk, urging him to buy Twitter, now known as X, just before the Tesla founder’s platform’s bid was made public in 2022.
Dopfner, who called for banning Tiktok in Europe on links with Chinese government and surges in anti-Semitistic and right-wing extremist views, avoided questions about similar content in X since Musk’s takeover I did. I will judge that,” he said. “I’m not working well enough.”
He also addressed years of speculation that he was interested in purchasing Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, describing it as a “super brand” and could tempt a printing acquisition. Although he reduced the chances of being sold.
Speaking amid speculation that Murdoch could try to offload the title to avoid giving it to three children in a bitter family feud, Depfner said he had the idea of ”general” with his digital portfolio They said they are focusing on “generally.” . . We don’t buy newspapers.”
However, he said the journal “is one of two superbrands in the world that I am very passionate about, and the other is FT.
Döpfner argued that the idea of bidding for the journal was “very theoretical” and said, “According to my information, the Wall Street Journal is not on sale.”
He added that if the title becomes available, “Of course we’ll probably look into it.”
Looking at the potentially high price tag of a paper purchased by parent company Murdoch in 2007 for $5.6 billion, he said, “There’s no chance we’ll really buy it, there’s no chance we’ll get it.” “It’s close to that.”
