# Der Spiegel declares war on Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 7, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207 "2017-02-07T04:20:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/41 "2017-02-07T09:27:57Z")
You guys aren’t giving **Blinkyandpinky** enough credit for his Merkel/Hitler comparison. Hitler was such a bleeding heart that Germany ended up being destroyed by millions of Russian immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/42 "2017-02-07T10:23:11Z")
> [@Blinkyandpinky](#): > > The people have woken up, the common man, and they have made it clear that they want nothing to do with the traitorous elites that have been screwing them over for so long now. Traitorous elites have been screwing over the common man for far longer than the EU has existed. Whether those elites are in or out of the EU won’t make much difference. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/43 "2017-02-07T10:37:32Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > The crunch is going to come, I think, over the rampant “America first” message. Obviously that plays well to the less-thoughtful segment of America - the more-thoughtful segment have already internalised that - duh - of course the American President puts America first - that’s what he’s there for! And leaders of _other_ countries put _their_ countries first. And if all systems are working well, when everybody’s looking out for their own interests in a sensible, co-operative and non-psychotic fashion, hopefully countries can work together and do deals that are in _both_ their interests. Yeah, but the problem is, lots of people have more faith in Zero Sum than in the existence of the Law of Gravity, despite the first one being a fallacy and the second being what keeps them stuck to the floor. People who think it’s impossible for someone to get richer without stealing also think there’s no such things as win-win or as negotiations in good faith. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/44 "2017-02-07T11:27:47Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The whiplash between Trump supporters complaining that liberals should just calm down and stop overreacting so much to Trump, and their subsequently having nuclear meltdowns of their own about anybody who dares to criticize Trump, is getting rather tiresome. Your critiques of exaggeration from the left might be slightly more believable if you didn’t indulge in the same sort of thing to a far greater degree every chance you get. Blinky needs his blankie. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/45 "2017-02-07T11:29:30Z")
> [@Blinkyandpinky](#): > > I have a stellar record on this forum when it comes to accurate predictions Baghdad Sean, is that you? Go away, or we shall taunt you a (seven hundred and) second time! ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/46 "2017-02-07T11:30:07Z")
I was expecting another year or so of Trump’s presidency before I started seeing articles like these in leading European newspapers. FWIW, I think this article should be seen in the light of “We can’t depend on America to be the dependable, formidable anchor of liberal values that it has been since 1945, right now. They’re working some stuff out.” I hope Americans don’t take umbrage over the article, or the sentiment. I hope the left wing in the US recognizes that they are not being included in this declaration of lack of faith in _current_ US leadership. From a European perspective, the Trump election is evidence that GWB wasn’t a fluke. That we may have more of _that kind of stuff_ coming. Stuff like Trump putting people like Gina Haspel in place as the CIA’s number two. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/47 "2017-02-07T11:32:44Z")
> [@Blinkyandpinky](#): > > I am not complaining. I am predicting the future. > > Traitorous elites means the leadership,the elite and the media in certain European countries. The globalists basically. 88 DOWN: “Traitorous elites; globalists” (4 letters, first one “J”) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/48 "2017-02-07T11:57:34Z")
Does that intersect with 14 Across? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/49 "2017-02-07T12:12:27Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yeah, but the problem is, lots of people have more faith in Zero Sum than in the existence of the Law of Gravity, despite the first one being a fallacy and the second being what keeps them stuck to the floor. People who think it’s impossible for someone to get richer without stealing also think there’s no such things as win-win or as negotiations in good faith. Indeed. One Hitler comparison which I think should give us all hope (or rather, non-comparison, since it’s a way in which the situation’s different now to the 1930’s) - Wiemar Germany was by all accounts an economic basket case, and _economically_, the Nazis distinctly improved things for many people over their first few years. This gave them solid support - unfortunately. That’s not the case in America today - the general economy’s been growing, if not spectacularly, at least reasonably. The only quick easy way to put more money in the pockets of the average Trump voter would be massive redistribution from the top 1% on down, because I don’t see how his crazy-man tactics are going to do anything to improve the general economic state of the country. He _could_ do that. It would be a smart populist move. But would he, ever? He’s in the 1% himself … well, he’d like us to think that, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/50 "2017-02-07T13:38:25Z")
> [@Blinkyandpinky](#): > > Liberals on this forum may believe that I’m a troll, and they are free to believe whatever they please, but I am being serious. I don’t think you’re a troll, I think you’re either a raging bigot or a paid shill. Maybe both. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/51 "2017-02-07T13:59:36Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Does that intersect with 14 Across? [Dolchstoßlegende](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth)?!! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/52 "2017-02-07T14:35:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Crawl back under your rock, you fucking moron. The fucking morons under the rock already evicted him for failing to meet their intelligence and wit standards. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/53 "2017-02-07T14:50:37Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > The fucking morons under the rock already evicted him for failing to meet their intelligence and wit standards. The slugs & fat white insect larvae under that rock were also appalled at his idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/54 "2017-02-07T14:51:59Z")
[QUOTE=Blinkyandpinky] … [/QUOTE] Hey, shit-for-brains… FUCK OFF. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/55 "2017-02-07T14:54:58Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > DNFTT. Blinky’s clearly incapable of rational thought, but the powers that be have no problem with him being around (although someone should check his IP to make sure he’s not posting from a Houston Tae Kwan Do school), so the very best we can do is collectively ignore his slavering stupidity until he fucks off or at least nobody has to read anything he says. Blinky signed up 12 days before **Oblique Reference** was suspended. **OB** was never this prolific. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/56 "2017-02-07T15:41:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Is that you, Mr. President? It’s more Steve Bannon, obviously. Or one of his Nazi minions. I doubt Donald Trump’s an anti-Semite, but Bannon sure as hell is. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/57 "2017-02-07T15:56:56Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I don’t think you’re a troll, I think you’re either a raging bigot or a paid shill. Maybe both. Someone’s getting ripped off. I believe that pure trolls are pretty rare. That is, guys who are left-leaning or apolitical in real life, but recite conservative tropes online that they don’t believe in at all. I also suspect that the number of actual conservatives who adopt a liberal persona to irritate other conservatives (versus an _agent provocateur_ role meant to make liberals look bad) is essentially nil. Most trolls, I think, believe in the spirit of what they’re saying but amplify, exaggerate and distort their statements to push buttons. For many of them, the primary motivation is simply that they hate liberals, or at least the liberal caricature they’ve created with the aid of right-wing media and peer reinforcement from their own Facebook feed. They hate the left, so they’re aligned with the right almost by default. It’s less a coherent worldview than a philosophy of exclusion— the photo negative of a _Weltanschauung_, defined purely by what their perceived enemies oppose. Does an obvious troll like **Blinkyandpinky** , in his heart of hearts, really believe all the bullshit he says? Maybe, maybe not. But he surely knows that by saying it, he can make the \*\*iiiandyiiis \*\*and \*\*ThelmaLous \*\*and **Budget Player Cadets** of the online world blow their stacks, a cheap thrill to tide him over between angry masturbation sessions to videos of waifish young girls crying out in real or imagined pain as they’re assaulted by appendages that are orders of magnitude larger than his own unfortunate nubbin. And that’s reason enough. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/58 "2017-02-07T16:47:52Z")
> [@Blinkyandpinky](#): > > Merkel might as well grow a tiny mustache, because what she has done to Germany and to the German people is simply unbelievable, and so damaging. Oh really? Pretend we haven’t read or listened to the same news sources as you and tell us everything she’s done that was so bad. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/59 "2017-02-07T17:03:46Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > DNFTT. Blinky’s clearly incapable of rational thought, but the powers that be have no problem with him being around (although someone should check his IP to make sure he’s not posting from a Houston Tae Kwan Do school), so the very best we can do is collectively ignore his slavering stupidity until he fucks off or at least nobody has to read anything he says. I wouldn’t HAVE to read what he “has to say” if people would stop quoting him. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207/60 "2017-02-07T17:11:20Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Does an obvious troll like **Blinkyandpinky** , in his heart of hearts, really believe all the bullshit he says? Maybe, maybe not. But he surely knows that by saying it, he can make the \*\*iiiandyiiis \*\*and \*\*ThelmaLous \*\*and **Budget Player Cadets** of the online world blow their stacks, a cheap thrill to tide him over between angry masturbation sessions to videos of waifish young girls crying out in real or imagined pain as they’re assaulted by appendages that are orders of magnitude larger than his own unfortunate nubbin. And that’s reason enough. Yeah… after my most recent round of engagement with him, I realized how silly it was, and I blocked him. My first block. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/der-spiegel-declares-war-on-trump/779207.md?page=4)