'Ach so'

Trump cares little about how well a person performs his or her job; he only favors loyalty. As a result of this sad fact, Trump appointed one of his sycophants, Richard Grenell, to the role of Ambassador to Germany (2018-2020). Is Grenell a scholar of European history? No. Does Grenell have any knowledge of German language and culture? No. What Grenell does do well is sing the praises of his boss even when there is no call to do so. 

I think many of us might remember when Chancellor Merkel first met Trump during a visit to DC back in 2017. In a video of the meeting, Merkel sticks out her hand to shake Trump's and he ignores the gesture. I even recall hearing Merkel say somewhat questioningly, 'Handshake?' -to no avail. I suppose no handshake is better than having one's arm jerked about for seconds on end like poor PM Abe of Japan had done to him by 'strongman' Trump. 

I can't think that either Merkel or Abe felt particularly warmed by any interactions they've had to endure with Trump. Grenell, on the other hand, claims Trump had 'charmed' Chancellor Merkel. Um, that is, to put it politely, doubtful. 

At around the 18 second mark of the above video one can hear a reporter ask Merkel if Grenell's claims are true. 

Merkel responds: What did he do (to me)?

Reporter: Charmed.

Merkel: Ach so.  Merkel pauses and smiles before going on to say that she doesn't report on internal discussions and gives no comment on that query specifically.

'Ach so' as a response is interesting in that I think it could be interpreted in a few different ways. Here it seems to be like 'oh, I see'. It certainly doesn't mean 'yes, that's correct'. I'm assuming she'd have said something to that end if Trump had, indeed, 'charmed' her. It's more likely he achieved the opposite effect.