BERLIN — If an American ambassador’s primary duty is to act as his master’s voice, Richard Grenell has gotten off to a roaring start.

At a private gathering a couple of days after he arrived last month that included members of Angela Merkel’s Cabinet, Grenell said tensions between the U.S. and Germany could be easily resolved if Berlin were more flexible.

Citing Trump’s dealmaking instincts, Grenell hinted that with a bit of creativity, some form of a grand bargain encompassing trade and energy could be struck to avoid tariffs.

The new ambassador’s attempt to encourage the Germans to think outside the box fell flat, however. German officials were confused. It wasn’t possible to combine talks over trade, which in any case is the purview of the EU, with talks about energy projects, one participant protested. The U.S. administration needed to be more realistic about what is politically viable in Germany.

That early encounter with Germany’s political establishment is emblematic of the resistance Grenell has faced ever since. By challenging accepted convention and diplomatic protocol — that is, by acting very Trump-like — Grenell has sent Germany’s hidebound political class into a fit of apoplexy.

The trouble began within hours of his arrival in Berlin a month ago, when he suggested — via Twitter, no less — that German companies in Iran “wind down operations immediately.”

Germany’s foreign policy establishment was aghast, with Wolfgang Ischinger, the former German ambassador to the U.S. who now heads the Munich Security Conference, offering Grenell a bit of free advice in his own tweet: “Never tell the host country what to do, if you want to stay out of trouble.”

By the looks of it, staying out of trouble is the last thing Grenell, who served as spokesman for the U.S. delegation to the United Nations for several years, intends to do.

His interview this week with Breitbart’s London arm, in which he said he hopes to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe,” unleashed a torrent of vitriol.

In Grenell’s use of “conservatives,” many saw a euphemism for right-wing populists such as Germany’s anti-foreigner Alternative for Germany (AfD). Some even accused Grenell of anti-Semitism (an absurd charge given his long record as an advocate for Jewish causes).

Shock, horror

The horrified reaction of Europe’s political and media establishment to the interview, which Breitbart ran out in multiple installments, made the uproar over Grenell’s Iran comment look like a minor fit of pique.

“Grenell is acting more like an extreme right-wing colonial officer than a diplomat,” said Martin Schulz, the Social Democrats’ failed chancellor candidate and ex-leader.

Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the left-wing Die Linke, demanded that Grenell be sent home forthwith.

Even members of Merkel’s nominally pro-American Christian Democrats (CDU) made no secret of their anger. Grenell has made it clear that “America’s political class would rather cooperate with the authoritarian Putin than European democrats,” said Elmar Brok, a senior CDU official and MEP.

The ferocity of such comments suggests that some of Grenell’s attackers have been waiting a long time to pounce.

Germany went for more than a year without an American ambassador. Though the U.S. Senate’s confirmation process was largely to blame for the delay, German officials privately grumbled that neither the U.K. nor France had to wait as long and had been stewing over the perceived affront long before Grenell’s arrival.

Trump’s criticism of Merkel and regular attacks on Germany’s trade surplus and NATO contributions added more poison to the well. German anti-Americanism, which dates back decades but went into remission during the Obama years, returned with a vengeance.

From his informal style to his choice of social engagements, there’s very little Germany’s media hasn’t taken issue with.

It’s difficult to overstate just how enraged Germany is about Trump. By questioning and criticizing such bastions of the Western order as NATO, the World Trade Organization and even the EU, Trump has thrust Germany’s leadership into an existential torpor it has yet to escape.

Grenell, a dyed-in-the-wool Trumpite, is now bearing the brunt of that pent-up frustration. The main criticism of him in Berlin so far is that he doesn’t act “ambassadorial” — meaning he speaks his mind.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” one veteran German diplomat said with a sigh.

Grenell’s two predecessors, Philip Murphy, now the governor of New Jersey, and John Emerson were much more in the traditional mold of American ambassadors. Though neither was a career diplomat, they chose their words carefully, taking their cues from the cadre of foreign service officers around them. They rarely created headlines.

Why anyone would expect Trump’s hand-picked envoy to Germany to be anything less than frank, however, isn’t clear. Everything Grenell has said to cause a fracas — from his criticism of Germany’s modest military budget to Merkel’s handling of the refugee crisis — is boilerplate from Trump’s talking points. More surprising would be if Grenell, who was known for his combativeness before he arrived, didn’t adopt Trump’s tone on such issues.

That's why it’s difficult to escape the impression that many of Grenell’s critics have just been waiting to be offended.

From his informal style (“Call me Ric,” he tells new acquaintances) to his choice of social engagements, there’s very little Germany’s media hasn’t taken issue with.

Grenell’s brief airport meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited Berlin on Monday, was characterized as a massive breach of diplomatic protocol. His extension of a lunch invitation to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, a fellow conservative, is regarded as equally uncouth.

But it is Grenell’s budding friendship with Jens Spahn, a prominent Merkel critic who belongs to the chancellor’s party, that has spawned the most conspiracy theories, not least because both happen to be gay and conservative.

Grenell’s real mission is “to infect politics here” with Trumpism, the left-leaning Süddeutsche Zeitung concluded in an editorial on Tuesday.

Judging by Germans' hostile reaction to the new ambassador so far, they’ve beat him to it.