German TV displays the raw hate of Trump supporters

[DFW]

I was watching a report on the Swing States (yes, the German media is paying plenty of attention) on German TV this evening. This evening's report came from Florida.

It showed people at Trump rallies, and interviewed some of them. Angry shrill women literally yelling about Hillary is a murderer, should be locked up (THAT phrase certainly caught on, didn't it?), how the country needed Trump. One said yes, he was an imperfect man, but he would be a perfect president (I would have loved to hear the logic behind THAT one).

The segment also interviewed some Hillary voters who were openly frightened to go near the clearly agitated Trump crowd. They talked--calmly and rationally. The Trump people screamed and yelled. If the Germans were trying to make the Trump voters seem angry, irrational, ignorant and dangerous, the certainly succeeded. Millions of Germans visit Florida every year. After this segment, I'll bet it will be a few dozen thousand less. If I were German and contemplating a vacation in Florida, after seeing this report, I think I would look into re-booking, too.

[Yavin4]

1. History is filled with irony. n/t

[niyad]

2. thank you so much for these reports. I keep pointing out to people here in my oh-so-red

county that this election affects more than just the people in this country.

[DFW]

4. I was in Brussels today, too

They were asking me about nothing else

[unc70]

3. European coverage seemed brutal to me

Just spent three weeks in Spain, Morocco, and France. Very high interest in our election everywhere -- from tapas bars, taxi drivers, everywhere. Most reactions were aghast at what was happening here, fear and confusion.

The local press is filled with coverage. While the time differences made watching the debates live difficult, the morning news was filled with coverage. It looked a lot like what I see here, including the SNL, Colbert, ... clips.

Note in Morocco I had limited opportunities to get feedback, but when I did it seemed similar. BTW the BBC shredded Trump over and over. So did CNN International.

[DFW]

6. My wife is no fan of Wolf Blitzer

His bias is so blatant, she doesn't need to get every word of his. Since she does miss words every now and then in many English language broadcasts, we usually only watch German-language coverage while we're at home.

[oasis]

5. Trumpoids are an embarrassment to our nation.

[DFW]

7. I have a hard time explaining that. The Europeans are not reassured

Last edited Mon Oct 24, 2016, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

Those who have never lived under anything other than a parliamentary system remember all too clearly that Hitler was elected Reichskanzler with less than 40% of the vote. Our system is somewhat baffling to them, so they worry that Trump might still have a chance.

[oasis]

8. A Clinton landslide should give them some comfort. nt

[DFW]

9. It would, actually

The fact that one of our major parties nominated Trump by popular acclaim within their party absolutely floored them.

[oasis]

10. Europeans are aware that "deplorables" surface every now and then,

like locusts. A recent example is Brexitmania.

[whathehell]

13. Yes, Italy had a similar idiot -- Berlusconi

Difference is, Italy actually put their idiot in office, we're not putting in Trump.

[moonscape]

29. And Italy can't do the global damage we can n/t

[whathehell]

34. And we all know that..

He's still idiotic, as were those who voted him into office... We're not voting our idiot into office.

[Eleanors38]

11. Some of those Germans vacationing in FL settle there. Probably to the benefit of Democrats.

Florida went for Obama twice, and Hillary will likely carry the state. Jokes aside, Florida is a net plus to progressive politics when more and different people move there as they have from the goddam beginning.

[Perseus]

12. Any links of one of the videos available?

It would be great to see, and show to the right people.

[JPbelgium]

15. I think this is the one

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/2865820/US-Wahlkampf-zerreisst-das-Land#/beitrag/video/2865820/US-Wahlkampf-zerreisst-das-Land

[DFW]

16. That was it

Hope your German was up to it!

[Lucinda]

14. The imperfect man/perfect POTUS comes from the religious right's talking points

They are saying that Trump is imperfect (because you can only ignore what he says and does so many times and not look like a total fool, I guess) and they have twisted that into him being used, imperfections and all, by God to save the country. I watched a few wacko videos on youtube a few nights back of "prophets" spreading that very message.

Of course Hillary's imperfections are too vile to make her useful to God.

[Ken Burch]

17. Well, if anyone knows it when they see it, it's the Germans.

Good on them.

[DFW]

18. It's just because I live here that I caught it

Since the print press all around seems to echo the same sentiments, it's a decent bet the neighboring countries have similar reports on their electronic media as well. I am in Holland and Belgium usually once a week, Spain and Switzerland usually at least once a month, and pretty much hear the same thing in every language--"how COULD you people even nominate someone like that?" How, indeed?

[Ken Burch]

19. In response, you could say "how could THESE folks be at 15% support and rising?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_for_Germany

[DFW]

20. Easy--the AfD taps into the same fears that Republicans do

That the AfD are struggling to make 20% where Johnson, Stein and Trump cumulatively get over double that says things haven't gotten out of hand here to the extent they have back home, and that with a forced over 1% increase in the population of the whole country made up completely of Muslims who speak nothing of the local language and have no job skills. If the Democrats had forced the USA to take in, in the space of one year, 4 million Muslims who spoke no English and had no job skills, the only question would be whether Trump would be over or under 65%.

[3catwoman3]

26. If I were traveling abroad...

...right now, I would be really tempted to claim I was from Canada.

[DFW]

30. I prefer to say where I'm from and let people know we're not all like that

I'll tell you a little incident that happened eleven or twelve years ago in Paris. I was buying some fruit from one of the stands on the Rue Cadet, where many of the vendors are Arabs. I asked the man at the stand to pack my apricots well, as they had to survive the trip back to Germany intact. This was all conducted in French.

He asked me if I was from Germany, and I said no, I was from Texas. He frowned. He said "George Bush is from Texas." I said yes, I knew only too well (I didn't bother with the fine details of his Connecticut birth). He then said sternly, "I am from Iraq." His French was very good, so he didn't just leave the week before. He had to be a refugee from Saddam, not the war we started. Even so.....I said that I was extremely sorry for what my country had done to his, and that a great many Americans, including many of us in Texas were completely opposed to the invasion of Iraq from the beginning.

I don't know what news sources, he had been listening to, but he was stunned. I confirmed that a huge portion of American public opinion was against the invasion, and I wanted to apologize on behalf of us, including Texas. He beamed, said he had no idea, was very encouraged to hear it, left his stand and came outside to shake my hand.

Sometimes, a few words go a long way.

[spooky3]

36. That is a wonderful story. Thank you.

[MFM008]

27. Many Germans will recognize

This sort of fanaticism.

[DFW]

31. Only too well

I now live in Germany, am married to a German, and we speak German at home. My daughters went to the local elementary school here outside of Düsseldorf. It was the Gestapo HQ during the Second World War. As revenge, the population turned the building into a school--the Anne Frank Elementary School, and made her life part of the kids' curriculum. I doubt there are too many of those even in the States.

[spooky3]

32. Please invite German tourists not to stay home, but to visit us in the DC area.

Lots of rational and friendly blue-voting people here! The welcome mat is OUT!

[DFW]

33. Actually, Germans love DC

The history, and especially Georgetown. Their biggest obstacle right now is the strong dollar. A euro only buys about $1.08 right now, where a couple of years ago, it bought $1.30.

[spooky3]

35. It's true. I enjoyed the exchange rate when in Europe last year. I just want them

to know, when they can afford to visit: Willkommen, and we're not all as bad as the Trumpsters.