With a tweet (instructing German businesses to “wind down operations immediately” in Iran), an interview (in which he told Breitbart News he hoped to “empower” conservatives across Europe), a meeting (with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen as a breach of protocol for another country’s ambassador to arrange) and an invitation (to host Austria’s young, hard-line anti-immigration chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, whom he referred to as a “rock star,” for lunch), [U.S. Ambassador Richard] Grenell has managed to shock and anger Berlin.

…“None of his predecessors intervened in domestic politics or created controversy in such a way.”

…Martin Schulz, the former chancellor candidate and leader of the center-left Social Democrats, said Grenell sounded more “like a far-right colonial officer” than a diplomat in his Breitbart interview.

…“He does not understand what the role of an ambassador should be,” says Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the center-left Social Democrats in parliament. “An ambassador is a bridge-builder who explains how American politics works, how the American government works, and at the same time explains to America how Germany sees things.” But Grenell, Schmid says, has “defined his role for himself, and it is not the traditional role of an ambassador. … He will work as a propagandist.”

…Still, it’s unclear whether and how this new kind of ambassadorship will continue to clash with German perceptions of the job. “That depends on the future,” says Liebich, the Die Linke MP, asked whether Grenell could reverse the early impression he has made here. “Everyone can make mistakes.” The Foreign Office official put it this way: “He has a great job—if he wants to do it the usual way.”

‘He Does Not Understand What the Role of an Ambassador Should Be’ – POLITICO Magazine

hmmm