this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
317 points (97.3% liked)

World News

39082 readers
2861 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

In her memoir Freedom, Angela Merkel reflects on her misjudgment of Donald Trump, initially treating him as “completely normal” before realizing his emotional nature and authoritarian inclinations.

She recounts his attempts to humiliate her, his zero-sum worldview, and fascination with autocratic leaders like Vladimir Putin.

Merkel also critiques Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and his hostility toward Germany.

Addressing her legacy, she discusses tensions with Putin over NATO and acknowledges criticism of her reliance on Russian gas and liberal refugee policies.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 82 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

I guess she missed the last 30 years of Trumps antics.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 23 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I'm from a country that borders Germany and I don't think I had any good idea who Donald Trump was before 2015. I may have heard the name at some point, but no more than that.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 4 hours ago

He was the laughing stock of NY (where he was from). A know racist too.

[–] MacGuffin94@lemmy.world 117 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

I mean, why would she care? He's was a US business man and she was a German politician. They would have little to no overlap and even when he became president she had more to do than spend the days of would take going over his list of bullshittery. It's easy to see immediately that he is a terrible person, realizing that he's quite literally toxic takes actually investing time into.

[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 26 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

That's why you have advisors, secretaries and other people who are there to help you learn about someone without you having to spend days on it. Especially when said someone is a president of an entire country, and a rather important one.

[–] MacGuffin94@lemmy.world 19 points 17 hours ago

Agreed, and the passing from the article implies that she was prepped and had an idea that he was shitty then realized how terrible a person he is once he met her. He's in the news so much over the last 8-9 years but before 2015/2016 most people knew fairly little about him unless you read his biography which his biographer has come out and said it's very sanitized.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world -5 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

One would expect that any competent national leader would've requested an intelligence folder about Trum,p at the lastest when he was elected POTUS, and this being Germany, they have the capability to produce one which is very complete and beyond what we common mortals can deduce about the man's nature.

Whilst a politician in such a high position in a country isn't necessarilly more capable of analysing things than a common mortal (though it's logical to expect they're significantly better at judging people than most, since that's a requirement in their profession and to reach such a high position they must be top performers at it), they most certainly have access to much better and deeper information than any of us and to people who can do the analysing for them.

[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 58 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (3 children)

Not really, she's just being political.

If you say "I always knew he was a raging narcissist." then you clearly had a bias against him, so whatever you say next is just a further expansion of that bias.

If you say "I thought he was normal, but I learned more." then you went in this with an open mind and people are more likely to listen to what you learned.

[–] overload@sopuli.xyz 24 points 18 hours ago

ITT: only one person who understands why Merkel would say that she thought Trump was "completely normal".

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Fuck that, be biased against authoritarian bigots

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world -2 points 17 hours ago

Basically shitty political dialogue where being honest is the worst fucking thing anyone can do even though everyone knows it is bullshit. Humanity is so fucking stupid.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 5 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, I don't understand how people can't see exactly the type of guy he is within seconds of laying eyes on him. He's not exactly an enigma, it's all right there in front of you.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Exactly, anyone just now saying "I didn't know" or "I thought he was normal" is either stupid or trying to cover their ass.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 5 points 15 hours ago

It's not 'now', it's at the time that he was first elected.