Post photo: Trump supporters shortly before storming the US Capitol | © Tyler Merbler - https://www.flickr.com/photos/37527185@N05/50812356151/
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Miscellaneous
The weekend was mostly reserved for the club bureaucracy, which I made a little more palatable with a few records and a break in the game. There was also an unscheduled trip on the meseno bus to collect donations and, to top it all off, a dance lesson.
I was also able to complete my preparation for the upcoming lecture. I had published a small survey in advance, which was answered by 26 of the 97 students registered on ILIAS. I also learned that the use of ILIAS is a voluntary matter - which is why I still expect more than 97 students (aka: best-case scenario).
In contrast to school, which we have to endure willy-nilly, studying is not compulsory. You could also go to work. And even if studying is a mandatory part of vocational training, it remains a very personal choice. And so it will be exciting for me to find out what motivation one or two students give for their studies - I hope not by receiving BAföG.
In any case, I'm taking the meseno bus again this morning - a good opportunity for students to make adjustments (aka: wave with the fence post).
Strasburg
Despite the unattractive weather, the stay in Strasbourg at the beginning of the weekend was once again very pleasant. However, my regular restaurant, which I have been going to since the 1990s, has changed ownership again and this time the result is not very encouraging. The quality of the food has noticeably declined, but the prices have increased outrageously - so it will probably become a real tourist attraction after all these decades.
A slightly younger passenger didn't know the city yet and so I spontaneously gave him a short tour of the city. This was mainly about Albert Schweitzer and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Theodor Heuss and all of this in just under two hours.
Bloodbath
Yesterday's statements Donald Trump and the support provided by the entire GOP party now mark absolute zero for Democratic election campaigns. From now on the Republicans can only fall further if they start randomly murdering people.
In any case it has Donald Trump This has been made unmistakably clear - only putting it in a different context will protect him from being brought to trial himself later if things go wrong again - and his hardcore Republican supporters now even find this a bit "boring, since the Democrats themselves had almost no weapons.”
And so I am very curious to see which side the US armed forces will be on on November 5, 2024, because, like ours, the US police forces will probably be largely assigned to the National Socialists.
In any case, it will be a hot autumn in the USA and if things go the way our conservative and left-wing and right-wing extremist parties in Europe would like, we will have a very cold winter as a result.
Dreams about this Friedrich Merz already - and this just like the left-wing fringe of the SPD - of a German nuclear power that will soon really show it to the rest of the world once again.
At least we still have hope that no politician will announce a bloodbath if he himself will not be elected. But there is also the fear that some politicians will announce a bloodbath if they are elected.
Regardless of this, the certainty remains that every country, regardless of whether e.g. B. the Russian Federation, France, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Germany, Poland or the USA, gets exactly the politicians it deserves!
And this should ultimately clarify the question that at least my generation was still concerned about when we were at school: Was Adolf Hitler just an accident or even a mistake?
Addendum based on a comment
Dear Mr. Kummerle,
You have chosen a really difficult topic: What would/could happen if Trump loses the election on November 5.11.2024th, 2? I'm currently in the middle of the fair copy of part 16.3.2024 of "American Tragedy". It raises similar questions — and I conclude that it would be better for both America and Europe if Trump lost. One difficulty in my preparation is that the American election campaign is already in full swing and something new happens almost every day that should also be mentioned in the paper. Trump’s “bloodbath speech” on March XNUMX, XNUMX was such a “new topic”.
The difficulty with Trump's speeches is that he doesn't stick to the texts given to him and keeps making big excursions. Therefore, what appears on paper as a speech is often not what he later presented. There were also such digressions in the “Bloodbath Speech”. But according to the press reports I have about it, the specific statements about the "bloodbath" were actually related to the possible electoral defeat. The Süddeutsche Zeitung headlined its report on this (on March 17.3.2024, XNUMX) with: “Trump: Election defeat will be a “bloodbath” for the country.” Apparently he initially talked about the state of the economy and his idea of imposing tariffs on cars that were produced outside of the country. The report then continues like this: “Then his speech turned dystopian: If Trump were to lose the election, there would be “a bloodbath for the country.”
The New York Times report from March 16.3.2024, 6.1.2021 goes in the same direction. Here too, the first point is to raise tariffs on cars manufactured outside the country if he is elected in November. Then it goes like this: “He added: “Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a blood bath for the whole — that's going to be the least of it. “It’s going to be a blood bath for the country.” To me this sounds similar to when he invited people to his rally on January 6.1.2021th, XNUMX in Washington: “It will be wild...!” And on January XNUMXth, XNUMX there were dead and many injured.
But it is not just this speech that is cause for concern. Trump and the MAGA people have learned from the chaotic beginning of the first presidency. If he wins in 2024, he will be well prepared to implement his program.
Many Americans are concerned about the future of the country's democratic and constitutional structures. The Heritage Foundation has drawn up an extensive plan - "Project 2025" - which, on the one hand, deals with the transfer of power should Trump win. However, there is particular cause for concern in the part of “Project 2025” that goes far beyond this and provides for the personnel and structural restructuring of the federal executive branch. The system of “checks and balances” for controlling power in the state, which is so highly praised in America, would be undermined and the president’s decision-making power would be significantly expanded (press reports on “Project 2025”: New York Times, January 21.1.2024, XNUMX: Interview with Kevin D Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. “Inside the Hiritage Foundation's Plan for Institutionalizing Trumpism” Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 1.2.2024, XNUMX: “Trump's election campaign: Be afraid”; Report from Christian Zaschke.)
The speech on February 10.2.2024, 10.2.2024 in Conway, South Carolina is cause for concern - especially for Europe. With casual rhetoric, Trump once again made statements that cast doubt on the USA's loyalty to the NATO alliance. (Report in the NYT, February XNUMX, XNUMX: “Trump Says He Gave NATO Allies Warning: Pay In or He'd Urge Russian Aggression”). John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, believes that if Trump wins the election he will withdraw from NATO.
I report on the tragedy of continued support for Ukraine in Part 2 of the “American Tragedy”. Trump is about to put Ukraine over the edge. The credibility of the USA is at stake.
But I haven't given up hope yet. I can't imagine the majority of Americans following Trump and jumping over the cliff like a pack of lemmings. There are enough people in America who can think long-term and geo-strategically.
Best Regards
Hans Müller
Hopefully you watched the entire Trump speech and didn't just repeat the DPA's blah blah. The context in which Trump spoke of a "bloodbath" in his speech was the downfall of the US auto industry in the event that the Chinese built car factories in Mexico and thus "drive the US auto industry into ruin" with cheap cars - the word " Bloodbath” in the context of economics can be translated differently from US English. Original speech here: https://youtu.be/NI8KyXxJj2s?si=dqenUT9TrmsKIJg1
You probably only took note of the one minute of Trump's speech linked above. That's why, in order to bring a little more clarity to this debate, I'm adding his entire speech to my blog post - I apologize in advance to anyone who feels the need to vomit.
My point here was about the way words are taken out of context by the press, not about being pro or con Trump. We here in Germany have just as much influence on the US elections as we do on the global climate - in fact, none at all. We should therefore think more about how we have to deal with the respective US president in order to effectively represent our interests.
No, your sole aim was to put into perspective the intolerable statements made by Donald Trump, which elsewhere even culminated in him celebrating the criminals who stormed the Capitol as heroes and promising his supporters, to their cheers, that he would get them out of prison again fetch. Then, embedded in the topic of the auto industry, he mentioned that there will be a bloodbath on November 6, 2024 if he does not become president.
And that's exactly what he read precisely from the teleprompter - your linked one minute text - so that afterwards you can claim that his words were taken out of context. The real context, however, is his hour-long hate tirade, which served almost all of his supporters' fascist or even National Socialist needs - and they understood the call for bloodbath exactly as Donald Trump wanted it, exactly as they did on January 6, 2021.
We may even have a little more influence on the global climate than we do on the US elections; it depends on how we set an example as an industrial nation and innovation hub.
It would also definitely be helpful if far too many of our representatives didn't continue to kiss Donald Trump's ass.
Oh dear. I'm speechless as to what you're interpreting into my comment. IMHO you should see everything a little more soberly. The end of the world is not coming with or without Trump… 🙂