A Quote by Joschka Fischer
With the arrival of the refugees in 2015, it became impossible to ignore that the period of uninterrupted sunshine that Germany had enjoyed had come to an end. The vast problems of the 21st century are knocking on our door. That is also true of the dramatic changes that we can see globally, for example with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. You can't win people over by saying nothing and biding your time, as Angela Merkel has tried to do. People want leadership - in the best sense of the term.
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Angela Merkel did the right thing. Her decision and the extraordinary willingness of the German people to take in refugees conveyed an image of Germany that is still having positive repercussions today. Unfortunately, people in Germany are no longer seeing that.
The United States is doing our part by increasing the number of refugees we resettle and I want again to commend Angela [Merkel], and more importantly, the German people for the extraordinary leadership and compassion that you have shown in the face of what I know is a very difficult challenge.
At the same time, you had Barack Obama as a president. You had Hillary Clinton on track, all the Democrats looking good. And, you know, Donald Trump was just an entertaining buffoon to watch. And, over time, you came to realize that Donald Trump was appealing to a lot of people with his populist message. And, slowly, I think, even as a show, we started shifting in tone as the election started shifting.
Angela Merkel embodies Germany's 20th century fate. It is not up to me to pass judgment on her place in history, but I believe that she is the chancellor of Germany's reconciliation with Europe. She stands for a Germany for whom globalization has been a success and which accepts its role in foreign and defense policy. I thought the way she dealt with the refugees was courageous. I think she is the chancellor of reconciliation.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a critical test in her political career. Merkel has been under increasing pressure over the European migrant crisis, and recent polls suggest Angela Merkel, who's been the German leader for more than a decade, could lose an election in her political home state.
When God gives you a door, if you want access, you go through that door. People didn't like Jesus. Oh, they had all kind of reasons to hate him but Jesus said, "I am the door. Any man who enters must come by me. If you don't come by me," he said, "you're a thief and a robber."
Well, if Omarosa Manigault is the door to Donald Trump, well I kind of like that door. That's a pretty door. That's an intelligent door. That's a spiritually rooted door.
It's easy to ignore the mess around election do that over here in Germany. It's just a blip on the radar for the German culture. They're like, "Y'all are crazy over there. Next segment." I'm not saying they're not scared. They're just wondering when people are going to wake up and see the pattern they themselves lived through and could see coming from a much greater distance. They don't have the hubris of youth to luxuriate in. According to the Germans I've spoken with, Trump's rise looks very similar to what happened prior to Hitler rising to power.
I know from my conversations with people in the administration that every world leader that Obama met in Berlin, in Peru, in Athens was extremely alarmed by Trump's election. That very much includes Angela Merkel.
You see it with Brexit, you see it in Donald Trump's election, you see it with the fact that neither of the main parties ended up in the final round of the French presidential election, you see it with the Italian referendum being defeated, you see it in a lot of ways - the political revolution.
Falling into Donald Trump's trap, or being distracted every time he sends out a tweet is really not leadership. And, I would point you to a historical example, Italy's Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, a larger-than-life personality. People didn't know what to do until somebody came up with a novel idea: Why don't we ignore him? They completely ignored the personality, the man, and focused on the issues. He was defeated twice. Maybe we can learn from that lesson.
My warning is: Be careful Angela Merkel. If you don't see the suffering that has been imposed on the rest of the European people, then Germany will make itself hated.
Donald Trump didn't have a polling operation until very late in his campaign. How did he know what to do? That the Ted Cruz people leaked their polls to Trump because they were looking forward to eliminating all the other rivals, clearing the way for a Cruz-Trump fight that they were certain Cruz would win. In the end, Cruz was the last man standing, it's true. If he had known at the beginning what he knew at the end, he might have thought twice. The Congressional Republican Party thought they could make Trump their tool to impose their very unpopular agenda. Instead, they became his tool.
The Republicans don't want Donald Trump to define the Republican Party agenda. They are very loyal. They owe a lot to their donors. The donors hate Trump. The Chamber of Commerce hates Trump. All of these people that the Republicans think they can't get elected without don't like Trump. So it has been a stonewall. This behavior by the House and Senate Republican leadership isn't anything new. All you had to do was to listen what they were saying during the campaign.
I kept hoping that Donald Trump, once he won the primary, would change. I hoped that we would see a new Donald Trump, one who put forth thoughtful policy positions, stopped denigrating people, and had a more positive vision for America. Regrettably, I have concluded that there is not going to be a new Donald Trump, that he's incapable of saying he's sorry, of changing, of learning, of growing.
Back when Donald Trump was just starting in the primaries, and I was asked, 'What do you think of Trump?' I would say, 'Donald Trump is a great example of someone in our country being able to truly do anything. You can dream, you can do it. And that's a great example of that. But when the primaries are over, Donald Trump will be gone.'
The election of Donald Trump is, to me, this very clownish personality with no political experience, who had literally been using fascist slogans in his campaign. It had seemed so impossible. Even after he was elected, and even now, it still feels impossible. It felt like we had fallen into this wormhole of history.
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