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Angela Merkel Mistranslated and Didn't Troll Trump and "Deplorables"

On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at the G20 in Hamburg about the Paris climate accord deal. Last month, President Trump said he would withdraw the US from the deal, the biggest global accord ever signed to cut greenhouse gases and combat climate change. On Saturday, Merkel confirmed that the other 19 members of the G20 had reaffirmed their commitment to the deal — but she also had some thoughts on Trump's decision to leave the agreement. It was reported that Merkel, speaking in her native German said, “You are familiar with the American position, you know that unfortunately — and I deplore this — the United States of America left the climate agreement or rather said, announced their intention of doing this.” One word, "deplore", particularly captured the public's imagination. That's because it reminded some people of a statement Hillary Clinton made during the 2016 election. “you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that.” She said. That statement infuriated many Trump supporters, who saw it as a dismissal of them as terrible people. So, some assumed that Merkel had chosen to say "deplore" as a shout-out to the "deplorables.” Lots of major media organizations reported the "deplore" line. Except it's not what Merkel said. One German word (“bedauerlicherweise”) got translated as "deplore" by the translator. Except, it really means "regretfully" or "unfortunately" or "sad to say." Therefore, what Merkel actually said was "You know that the US, unfortunately, left the climate agreement – or have said, that they want to." Merkel did not say she personally deplored that the US was leaving the Paris deal, she just expressed general regret that it had happened.