Memoir of former German chancellor recalls US president’s soft spot for tyrants and apparent fascination with Putin

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.

    • MacGuffin94@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1231·
      3 days ago

      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.

      • Aceticon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        28·
        3 days 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.

    • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      29·
      3 days ago

      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.

    • MimicJar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      633·
      3 days ago

      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.xyzEnglish
        292·
        3 days ago

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

      • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
        34·
        3 days 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.pubEnglish
      82·
      3 days 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.worldEnglish
      64·
      3 days ago

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