At Trump's first election, German papers aggressively opposed him, describing him as psychotic and dangerous. Der Spiegel wrote in 2018: "Under the will-o'-the-wisp Donald Trump, the world has become a dangerous place." At that time, America had a large foreign exchange deficit, mostly with Germany and less with China. Trump observed that America was being bled by Germany while Germany was not paying for its defense. Germany, now I realize, was fearing Trump, and it appears, rightly.
According to the Economist, German industry today is bankrupt, its exports are falling and the Ukraine war has driven it into a direct conflict with Russia. Germany is in a bad corner and desperate. They had a reason to fear Trump.
Now there are the millions of illegal immigrants in America who are trembling.