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canetoad

(19,489 posts)
Wed Sep 10, 2025, 12:05 AM Sep 10

Trump according to Angela Merkel's memoir

snip...

- Angela Merkel’s first mistake with Donald Trump, she says in her new memoir, was treating him as if he were “completely normal”, but she quickly learned of his “emotional” nature and soft spot for authoritarians and tyrants. She stressed that she was wrong about Trump since she first thought he was "normal".

- During their first meeting in 2017 in the Oval Office, where he attempted to humiliate her by refusing to shake her hand before the cameras. “I whispered to him that we should shake hands again,” she writes. “As soon as the words left my mouth, I shook my head at myself. How could I forget that Trump knew precisely what he was doing. He wanted to give people something to talk about with his behavior, while I had acted as though I were having a conversation with someone completely normal.”

- Now unbound by diplomatic niceties, Merkel sizes up Trump as “emotional” and driven by grievance and neediness, in contrast to her “factual” approach. “It seemed that his main aim was to make the person he was talking to feel guilty. At the same time, I had the impression that he also wanted the person he was talking with to like him.”

- Rather than trying to build bridges with traditional allies, Merkel writes, “Trump was apparently fascinated with the Russian president”, and she notes that “politicians with autocratic and dictatorial traits had him in their thrall”.

- According to the former chancellor, Trump did not believe in cooperation. “He was convinced that all countries were competitors of each other, where the success of one meant the failure of the other. He did not believe that the prosperity of all countries could be increased through cooperation.”

https://lifewithnofears.blogspot.com/2025/01/5-reasons-why-former-german-chancellor.html

Unknown ie, not known to me....source; found in Bluesky thread about restaurant protestors.

10 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump according to Angela Merkel's memoir (Original Post) canetoad Sep 10 OP
Appearances....... a two-fisted drinker. Norrrm Sep 10 #1
Wow! Drum Sep 10 #2
completely dysfunctional communication NJCher Sep 10 #3
To throw them off balance canetoad Sep 10 #4
Welcome to our world progressoid Sep 10 #5
He may be to his supporters as they are not really normal, are they? LiberalArkie Sep 10 #7
Mahalo to you and former Chancelor Cha Sep 10 #6
Our press still treats him as normal, or sanewashes him. SunSeeker Sep 10 #8
He'll be overjoyed that he was mentioned in her memoir. IcyPeas Sep 10 #9
Angela Markel, PhD in quantum chemistry had to deal with this genius: fujiyamasan Sep 10 #10

NJCher

(41,464 posts)
3. completely dysfunctional communication
Wed Sep 10, 2025, 01:06 AM
Sep 10

Look at this, quoted from the blog post:

“It seemed that his main aim was to make the person he was talking to feel guilty. At the same time, I had the impression that he also wanted the person he was talking with to like him.”

The purpose of communication us to inform or inquire. It can also be to entertain or persuade. Make a request.

He probably attacked her to make her feel guilty. He's always doing this, if you notice what he says. By attacking people, he tries to get them to feel guilty. Why?

My guess is to manipulate them. This person is so effed up. Just such a mess.

----------------

Nice find, Canetoad. I look forward to reading more from her book.

Cha

(314,433 posts)
6. Mahalo to you and former Chancelor
Wed Sep 10, 2025, 01:43 AM
Sep 10

of Germany, Angela Merkel .

I always liked her a lot.. who could not? Oh the jealous Siberian candidate, Fake pres, Traitor to the USA. Showing off what an Asshole he is in the oval office.

IcyPeas

(24,242 posts)
9. He'll be overjoyed that he was mentioned in her memoir.
Wed Sep 10, 2025, 03:09 AM
Sep 10
He wanted to give people something to talk about with his behavior, ...


fujiyamasan

(708 posts)
10. Angela Markel, PhD in quantum chemistry had to deal with this genius:
Wed Sep 10, 2025, 03:09 AM
Sep 10

“ Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.”

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