The facts
Germany's IG Metall union chief Christiane Benner stated that Audi CEO Gernot Döllner's appearance alongside Donald Trump at a campaign rally was "deeply embarrassing" and politically unacceptable, accusing him of breaching Audi's political neutrality rules. Audi's code of conduct prohibits public appearances with political candidates. Trump announced plans for a new Audi factory in Georgia at the rally. Separately, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is visiting Singapore, Japan, and South Korea on a diplomatic mission, while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is traveling to China to discuss trade and international issues. A German cruise ship, the "Mein Schiff 3," had its voyage to the Canary Islands canceled after colliding with two container vessels in Bremerhaven, sustaining damage but with no injuries reported.
Our take
Gernot Döllner, the absolute cunt in charge of Audi, just decided the company's code of conduct against political campaigning was more of a suggestion. He waddled onstage with Donald Trump like a desperate groupie, letting the former president use him as a corporate prop to announce a factory that doesn't even have board approval yet. The sheer, slobbering vanity of it. Here's a CEO so fucking thirsty for a deal he'll let a man who shits on international alliances drape an arm around him for a rally crowd, making his entire workforce and their union look like collateral in his personal PR stunt. Christiane Benner, the union boss, is right to call it deeply embarrassing - it’s the diplomatic equivalent of shitting your lederhosen at a state dinner. While Döllner plays footsie with a chaos agent who treats trade policy like a protection racket, actual German leaders are doing the boring, real work: the Chancellor is in Asia trying to secure stable partnerships, and the President is in China discussing actual international responsibility. But no, the Audi CEO needed his moment, proving that some executives will gladly trade their company's dignity for a headline and a handshake with a man who views contracts as toilet paper. What a prick. He turned a global brand into Trump's campaign backdrop, a pathetic, groveling breach of neutrality that screams corporate cowardice. Maybe the new factory can produce a line of special edition sedans with 'Suck-Up' trim. In the meantime, the only thing getting assembled is a towering pile of bullshit, with Döllner as the foreman. Fuck this guy and his deeply embarrassing need to be liked by a clown. The real damage isn't to the ship he didn't build yet - it's to any shred of principle Audi pretended to have. What a dickhead move. Sellout cunt.
