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In Germany: History
Germany's going to spend some money. Not because they want to, necessarily, but because they have to
“Any good con man will tell you that it’s easier to con someone than convince them that they had been conned.”
I have coworkers, friends and family who support trump. Each time trump says or does something I find alarming and dangerous, I ask a few of them if it changes how they feel about him. Nothing seems to matter to them. These are otherwise intelligent, rational people. The Zelensky oval office meeting was one of the most shameful moments I’ve ever seen on tv. A US president and vice president kicking the leader of a twice attacked democratic ally while he’s down, making him literally beg for help in front of the world. Trump at one point actually lamented the fact that Putin got dragged into the russia russia russia investigation, and unnecessarily suffered because of it. I asked the aforementioned friends about that moment, and none of them thought there was anything wrong with that. None of them thought anything was wrong with pardoning violent criminals for the jan 6 attack on the capitol. There’s some psychological effect that trump’s particular way of communicating has on certain people, that makes him immune their rational scrutiny.
Thank you for that. That rings true. I dont what explains that. A principle of reality will set in when things turn sour enough. Then your family and friend will tell you: i told you so.
I have been having the same experience. It would be infuriating if it wasn’t so frightening. It’s a case of speak no evil, see no evil. There is no action or statement too outrageous for them to rationalize and they are in denial about the risks Trump poses to the nation and the world. Let alone the damage that’s already been done. We’re all now only realizing what Trump’s always known: he could literally kill someone in broad daylight and it would change nothing for his supporters.
You really should watch some documentaries on people who have escaped a cult. The Jonestown survivors made it very clear that they would have done anything for that man. Most of the people who survived that event did so by pure chance.
H-Man, probably somewhat apropos for the German folktale — The Pied Piper.
The supporters think they are fighting a war. Once people get in that mindset they typically can only change by dying in battle or in old age. What we need to focus on is supporting faith leaders who tell the truth about G.O.P. not following the precepts of Jesus Christ. Faith leaders can turn some of them, hopefully enough turn back to compassionate teachings to erode the base.
I don’t think trading one cult for another is exactly a great strategy. MAGA was born inside of white evangelical churches.
The US votes with Russia, China, Belarus on UN resolutions. The administration is praised by Russian media for using Kremlin talking points when brow-beating the democratically elected leader of another country. The US cuts off military aid and intelligence feeds to a democratic ally currently at war with Russia. The US meddles in internal German politics and now Romanian politics by supporting far-right fringe candidates.
There is no 3D chess going on here. Trump and Vance are Putin’s sock puppets, plain and simple.
Yes this is true. We have not known the full effect of Russia’s pressure campaign. They are capable of stealing almost anything not nailed down. Wonder if the have their eyes on Ft. Knox.
In just a matter of months, Mr Trump has managed to change “German rearmament” from “scariest two words in European history” to “can they do it fast enough?”
“Looking for a time when German rearmament led to stability is a bit like hunting for a unicorn in a war zone”, said Grok 3. I guess we’ll see if it’s different this time.
Ignoring history, Germany’s place in the EU economically aligns with them taking the lead on rearmament. Not ignoring history is something Germany has methodically taken steps to ensure will likely not happen. Even the AfD is less right wing than MAGA is, yes they complain about immigrants, but they actually have a problem with unemployed immigrants living off of social services. Something about voluntarily letting 5M immigrants in and immediately signing them up for social services has created a backlash to a real problem that we only imagine exists here.
And, we are obviously in no place to point out the mote in Germany’s eye.
https://protectdemocracy.org/work/the-authoritarian-playbook/
This administration is literally executing this playbook every single day.