2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumI am watching German News right now. They are reporting on Trump.
The ZDF German reporters are saying what a terrible time it is for the United States. They are reporting that Moscow has the Trump tapes. They are reporting that Trump may have things to hide and that is why Trump refused to show his Tax forms.
Now they are showing Trump dodging the CNN questions. The Germans watching TV here with me are laughing at Trump. They think he is stupid. They are especially laughing with Trump giving his "you're fired" line as he leaves the press conference.
The reporter is saying Trump is open to extortion. It is not looking good from here.
Well off to my room. Just could not help attempting to describe how the world sees Trump and the United States now.
riversedge
(73,134 posts)FSogol
(46,525 posts)Trumpy has always been a laughingstock.
calimary
(84,346 posts)Ouch!
Well, that's a whole new way to look at those folks, isn't it!
bucolic_frolic
(47,006 posts)'Drain your bladder'
stage left
(3,016 posts)Piss ants one and all.
JudyM
(29,517 posts)Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)for now
progressoid
(50,748 posts)And it's probably a nervous laugh.
jonno99
(2,620 posts)monmouth4
(10,140 posts)2naSalit
(92,733 posts)jonno99
(2,620 posts)UCmeNdc
(9,650 posts)BigDemVoter
(4,544 posts)We will never, never, never, never live this down. And we don't deserve to ever live it down. The country elected this asshat, although it WAS rigged. . . . The rest of the world doesn't see it that way. They only see it as those shallow fucking Americans have done it again and elected the most incompetent person they could possibly find.
Phoenix61
(17,649 posts)they don't like Americans. Sheesh, I'm not real thrilled with us right now.
milestogo
(17,833 posts)get the red out
(13,588 posts)whathehell
(29,802 posts)I'm not sure it's in the best position to criticize....
FSogol
(46,525 posts)whathehell
(29,802 posts)DFW
(56,557 posts)They have been to the bottom of the abyss. We have not yet hit the bottom (give is another month).
I live in Germany, married to a German woman. The chances of a Trump being Chancellor are exactly zero.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)Last edited Thu Jan 12, 2017, 07:29 AM - Edit history (1)
that 'abyss'' on themselves, not to mention the rest of the world.
The chance of Trump, awful as he is, being able to replicate their horror in America is zero as well.
By the way, I understand that Mein Kampf.has been on the best seller list in Germany for at least two years. Interesting development.
..
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)DFW
(56,557 posts)I have lived in Germany for years, speak the language fluently, am married to a German and almost all of my best friends are German. I travel expensively throughout the country and talk to people of all political persuasions. It is nearly impossible to find ANYONE who thinks that Trump is any kind of a leader, or is the kind of person they want on their political scene. It is just about impossible to find anyone there who thinks Trump is something positive for the United States, Europe, NATO or the world. Germany has no flyover country. You can go from one end to the other by train, in any direction, leaving at breakfast, and be at the other end of the country before midnight, usually in time for dinner.
Today's Germany is comprised of people who are basically pacifist in political leaning, being obliged, from elementary school on, to learn what happened in the 1930s and 1940s. My girls were born there, grew up as Germans (only exception--we raised them bilingually so they would have no communication issues when visiting the USA), went to the Anne Frank Elementary School, which was purposely so named because the Gestapo had used it as their local building during the Nazi era.
If someone has lived in Germany for as long as I have and speaks the language as well as I do and wants to relate a totally different impression, I'm open to hearing it, but if someone wants to refute my observations with second-hand information, please don't bother. I had relatives who perished in the Holocaust, too, have plenty of Epsteins and Goodmans in the family. If had obsessed with that all my life, I wouldn't have had a 42 year relationship with a beautiful fabulous German woman, two of the coolest daughters a man could wish for, or some of the most loyal friends anyone could have anywhere. Of course, being from Texas, no one has to explain to me what it means to be under a blanket condemnation for nothing more evil than the address on my driver's license.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)but I still don't understand why you think Trump couldn't take over more power here.
Crunchy Frog
(26,980 posts)And given our own country's history, (slavery, genocide, other shit) have we ever been in a position to criticize either?
whathehell
(29,802 posts)You might want to ask a Holocaust survivor, and his or her children, whose inherited damage has been confirmed, how "over" it is for them.
After that, you might want to ask yourself why Mein Kamp is on Germany's Best Seller list again.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/23/hitlers-mein-kampf-is-now-a-best-seller-in-germany/?utm_term=.4bd9dc495749
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/world/europe/germanys-latest-best-seller-a-critical-version-of-mein-kampf.html.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35242523
tblue37
(66,035 posts)of fascism and neo-Nazis than most--certainly more on guard than the US is!
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)whathehell
(29,802 posts)but they could also be overensitive in seeing it in America too.
Please remember, and perhaps remind them, that Trump LOST the popular vote by the widest margin of any president elect in our history.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)Read the history of Europe in the first half of the 20th century. ...
DFW
(56,557 posts)Reagan, Cheney, Trump. We don't have a lot of finger-pointing to do.
raging moderate
(4,502 posts)I can't remember exactly where I read this, so it is uncertain, at least in the details. Some American Nazi types are said to have secretly bankrolled him. Some folks at IBM are said to have helped him set up surveillance and data processing systems. I read that at some point a little later some American Nazi types traveled to Germany to rejoice and consult with Hitler about taking over the US, but he rebuffed them in fear that the connection might become widely known.
LisaM
(28,604 posts)There was a large contingency working hard to prevent World War II because of their business interests for a long time.
mitch96
(14,659 posts)They loved hitler because he was pro business... think Krupps Bosch Seimens Benz, VW. Ford helped the nazis with their assembly line production and Prescott Bush helped with the bankroll. These assholes wanted to over throw Roosevelt in a coup and tried to get decorated General Smedly Butler to attack Washington DC with 500,000 troops but Butler did not do it.. I think he spilled the beans to Roosevelt and put these guys backs against the wall and testified to congress about the matter..
Rumor has it that Roosevelt told the members of congress if they did not pass his social security bill he would have them charged and shot for treason and insurrection..
Needless to say Roosevelt turned lemons into lemonade and got Social security passed...
(as Churchill said "never let a good crisis go to waste"
From what I've read, all this information.. albeit sanitized by 1930's standards is in the library of congress under the McCormick-Dickstein committee. I first heard about it on a BBC radio program.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tbs0
As the saying goes, if we don't learn from history we are bound to repeat it..
m
Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)Brown Brothers Harriman
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Brothers_Harriman_%26_Co.
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) is the oldest and largest private bank in the United States. In 1931, the merger of Brown Brothers & Co. (founded in 1818) and Harriman Brothers & Co. formed the current BBH.
Brown Brothers Harriman is also notable for the number of influential American politicians, government appointees, and Cabinet members who have worked at the company, such as W. Averell Harriman, Prescott Bush, Robert A. Lovett, Richard W. Fisher, Robert Roosa, and Alan Greenspan.
hedda_foil
(16,503 posts)The Bush fingerprints are all over the Nazi rise to power. Look up Brown Brothers Harriman, Nazis in Google. But many more industrialists were right in there with them, so keep digging. The piece de resistance is Prescott Bush's indictment for trading with the enemy in wartime, courtesy of DUer Dems Will Win from DU 1 or maybe 2.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132xcoo581610
area51
(12,142 posts)Crunchy Frog
(26,980 posts)We were enthusiastic proponents in the early 20th C.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)which is more than many of our younger DUers can say.
Cha
(305,435 posts)Donald Trump Is the World's Most Dangerous Man
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/donald-trump-is-the-most-dangerous-man-in-the-world-a-1075060.html
hadEnuf
(2,704 posts)Tens of thousands of American casualties trying to rid Germany of their dictator.
Then 71 years later, we elect a man like Trump.
It's understandable why today's Germans are dismayed at us.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)fighting both of their wars in the first half of the 20th century?
Germany's dismay is understandable to the extent they realize that the majority of Americans did NOT vote for him,
and that the margin of his popular loss was y 2.8 million.
And also that we are possibly allowing what happened to Germans in 1933 to now happen to us in a way.
Given the history of the fist half of the 20th century, how can Americans NOT know better than to put a man like Trump into office?
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)You appear to predicate your entire narrative on one period-- a two generation removed, 79 year old conflict which has been wholly resolved. Is one then going to pretend the Franco-Prussian War, the Hundreds Year War, the Crusades, in and of themselves, are a valid reason in the here and now to dismiss a policy?
It is irrational to believe wisdom is denied to a nation due to one instance, else we'd be compelled to apply the same standard to you and the logical fallacy your using. No doubt, your bias requires you to use the fallacy, which may be a wee hint you should re-visit and re-examine your bias.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)Is that how you would describe World War II? One little 'conflict" with a genocide of six million added to the miillions in war casualties?
Ask surviving Holocaust victims AND their children whose inherited damage has been confirmed, how "wholly resolved" it is.
hadEnuf
(2,704 posts)And Germany of today is still fighting to crush any resurgence of Nazism tooth and nail. America helped teach them to do that.
Again, one can understand Germany's dismay at us letting a person like Trump get presidential power.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)valid only to the extent that they understand the electoral college and the fact that Americans by a large majority, did NOT vote for him.
hadEnuf
(2,704 posts)I would think they know a dictator when they see one (??)
Big_K
(237 posts)Let's not fat shame. Asshole shaming, however, I endorse with all of my 226 pounds. Or 226 stone. Or 226 kilograms. Or 226 centimeters.
(Learning the metric system for soon-to-be get-the-F-out-of-here sometime after January 20 one-way trip SOMEWHERE).
calimary
(84,346 posts)The Donald has a way of bringing out the worst in people. It continues to be proven.
HurricaneWarning
(220 posts)Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)BigDemVoter
(4,544 posts)I'm certainly not anybody to be pointing fingers either!
Tatiana
(14,167 posts)I never thought I'd live to see a day like this. Oh well, I guess you reap what you sow...
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)this is not going to end well for sure if the German media starts to tease the Golden Urinator.
MontanaMama
(24,024 posts)That made my whole damned day. Thank you Wellstone ruled.
"I am the best urinator! The BEST! Belieeeeeeve me."
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)shows at 7 and 9. He he.
not fooled
(6,073 posts)"Urine big trouble, Don"
saw variants in multiple places so credit goes to others.
Maynar
(769 posts)tip your waitress.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)alfredo
(60,135 posts)Markel has a rather dark opinion of Trump.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)"Merkel".
alfredo
(60,135 posts)whathehell
(29,802 posts)There you go -- Remedial reading course averted.
alfredo
(60,135 posts)Bye.
alfredo
(60,135 posts)triron
(22,240 posts)nation can have much credence anymore as being the beacon of hope
and a 'shining example of democracy'. NOT.
raccoon
(31,457 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)and furious, then the next day all hell breaks loose in tweets, love seeing Trump angry.
riversedge
(73,134 posts)world wide wally
(21,830 posts)(Flood of jokes)
Ligyron
(7,895 posts)barbtries
(29,800 posts)will they be sending in rescue parties for the sane among us?
Response to UCmeNdc (Original post)
SleeplessinSoCal This message was self-deleted by its author.
kimbutgar
(23,283 posts)When in fact he has made us a laughing stock and foreign leaders are going to snub him disrectly. The only friend he has is Putin and Netanyahu.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)Germany think we did not learn from their mistake and now we have our Hitler. I must agree with them.
whathehell
(29,802 posts)Trump s no Hitler, and awful as he is, it's ridiculous to be jumping that gun as he's not even been inaugurated yet.
By the way,, you might remind your friends we not only "learned" from their mistake, we died helping them correctl it.
Mc Mike
(9,171 posts)He'll certainly do until a 'real' one comes along, your vaporous bald assertion to the contrary notwithstanding.
By the way,, you might want to not be so impolite to someone who's just relaying a personal observation you disagree with.
NewDealDemocrat
(3 posts)LittleGirl
(8,439 posts)Wow, one post! I hope you like it here. I love your user name!
NewDealDemocrat
(3 posts)yuiyoshida
(42,727 posts)argyl
(3,064 posts)The Thais were polite and didn't have much to say about the tub of orange goo unless someone,often me, brought him up, and even then didn't excessively berate him. It's just their nature.
I was there shortly after Dubya was elected and the Western tourists, primarily European,Australian,New Zealanders, and a few South Americans, were really boisterous and carousing with their contempt and overall low opinion of the man and I was only too happy to join in.
This time,however, the mood was quite somber. If Trump's name was brought up at all it was usually by me and the responses were of sheer comptempt,apprehension,and fear. These are Western Europeans,some of our closest allies,and they feared the creature foisted on us as our president.
I don't blame them,I feel the same way. Other than that Thailand was gorgeous,as always.
Vinca
(51,053 posts)Javaman
(63,109 posts)hells
(141 posts)for the Russian propaganda machine to target Germany.
Crunchy Frog
(26,980 posts)dlk
(12,380 posts)In their quest to win at all costs and blinded by their zealotry, Republicans have made the United States the laughingstock of the world. Their extremist policies only benefit their billionaire overlords, with the remainder of our citizens are left hung out to dry. Sad to say, their 40-year war on public education, coupled with their ongoing, broad-based propaganda programs have succeeded. We have all lost because of it. It will take generations of work to recover, if ever.
lark
(24,164 posts)Just like shrub almost destroyed the economy of the world, Drumpf wants to actually take us down for the benefit of the oligarchs, especially Russian oligarchs. He personally will profit greatly from our destruction, which is the reason he's president in the first place.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Any time there's a significant response or "attitude" from a major ally, it's heartening to hear.
Glad to know we're not alone in our disdain for this perverted pretender.
JoshinUtah
(12 posts)Who doesn't?