SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- Even in among feelings of what the Germans call Gemütlichkeit--warmth and good cheer--President Trump's spectre lurks in the background.
Today at a ceremony in the old City Commission Chamber at City Hall, Mayor Mike Huether and Lord Mayor Jann Jacobs and his wife Christina exchanged hearty welcomes in English and German. The Jacobs also presented Huether with an award from a German-American friendship organization recognizing the cities as having one of the best Sister City relationships in the two nations.
They also joked about eating brats and beer at Saturday's Sioux Falls Oktoberfest.
But Trump wasn't lurking too far behind the good feelings.
Both in prepared remarks and in a question posed by KELO.com News, Herr Jacobs noted the strained relations between the United States and Germany as well as with NATO and the European Union since Trump's election. Jacobs said it was thus more important for German-American relations that such people-to-people contacts remain strong.
In a lighter vein, in answer to another question posed by KELO.com News--in German--as to whether he liked the heavy metal German techno rock group Rammstein, Herr Jacobs laughed and said--in English--he was more of an "old school" guy and preferred the classic American rock band, The Doors.
