Germany's Nazis Embrace Donald Trump

Two weeks ago a mob of Nazis stormed the Reichstag in Berlin after one of the leaders announced that “Trump has landed in Berlin!”.  That was the signal they had been waiting for; only the brave intervention of three police officers prevented them from gaining entrance to the building and trashing the seat of the nation’s parliamentary democracy.  The scene brought up uncomfortable memories for Germans.  After all, it was the burning of the Reichstag in 1933 that was used by Hitler as a pretext for abolishing the democratic constitution of the Weimar Republic and arresting or murdering leaders of the German Social Democrats (SPD)  and the Communist Party (KPD). 

The New York Times has an excellent piece on how Donald Trump is an inspiration to German Nazis and other right-wing extremist groups in Germany.

“Trump has become a savior figure, a sort of great redeemer for the German far right,” said Miro Dittrich, an expert on far-right extremism at the Berlin-based Amadeu-Antonio-Foundation.

Germany — a nation generally supportive of a government that has handled the pandemic better than most — may seem an unlikely place for Mr. Trump to gain such a status. Few Western nations have had a more contentious relationship with Mr. Trump than Germany, whose leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, a pastor’s daughter and scientist, is his opposite in terms of values and temperament. Opinion polls show that Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular among a broad majority of Germans.

But his message of disruption — his unvarnished nationalism and tolerance of white supremacists coupled with his skepticism of the pandemic’s dangers — is spilling well beyond American shores, extremism watchers say.

The Nazis’ embrace of Trump coincides with the growing popularity of the “QAnon Conspiracy” in Germany. It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 QAnon followers in Germany — second only to the United States.  The most influential QAnon leader is the celebrity chef and rabid anti-Semite Attila Hildmann:

“Trump is someone who has been fighting the global ‘deep state’ for years,” Mr. Hildmann said in an interview this past week. “Trump has become a figure of light in this movement, especially for QAnon, precisely because he fights against these global forces.”

“That’s why the hope for the German national movement, or the liberation movement, lies basically with Q and Trump, because Trump is a figure of light because he shows that you can fight these global powers and that he is victorious,” Mr. Hildmann said.

“The Germans hope that Trump will liberate Germany from the Merkel corona regime,” he said, so that “the German Reich is reactivated.”

The Nazis and other extremist groups look to Trump — and to a lesser degree, Putin — because they share the values of the US and Russian presidents: contempt for democratic institutions, hatred of people of color and immigrants, hatred of the Free Press — called Lügenpresse or Fake News. 

You may think that these German Trumpists are just a small fringe group that doesn't merit much attention.  But last month a national poll revealed that one third of Germans believe in conspiracy theories. 

Comments

[sol1]

We're lucky that these covidiots cancel each other out:

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/hier-sind-einige-falschspieler-unterwegs-offener-streit-im-lager-der-corona-querdenker/26163774.html

"...one third of Germans believe in conspiracy theories."

But that is to be expected. All through history people believed in conspiracies. Just in the last decades conspiracy theories lost theior credability.

I recommend this book:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichts_ist,_wie_es_scheint

[David]

That book is unfortunately not available here in the German original.

Looks like an English version will be released soon:

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Conspiracy-Theories-Michael-Butter/dp/1509540822/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=michael+butter&qid=1599662055&s=books&sr=1-2

[Koogleschreiber]

One third...hm. Depends on whta counts as a conspiracy theory, I guess. Look, in Germany you have to pay, for example, for the "basic public supply" with informations (radio and television). When this service was created we had 1 TV-channel und a dozen radio stations, which are, de facto, controlled by politicians of the CDU and SPD. Everyone with at least a radio or tv had to pay for this service. And as things in politics and goverments go, one tv-station is not enough for a basic service. Today we have about 40 tv-stations, 600 radio stations and internet platforms which all belong to the basic (LOL) public service consuming billions of euros.

And today, you even don't need to own a radio or tv or a computer to be commited to pay for the service. The monthly fee for the basic public service has in deed changed to a residential fee. You own a house, you have rented a flat, you have to pay for tv and radio and the internet. For the basic supply with trash and soaps, sports, music shows etc. And news that inform you about politicians and parties which de facto run the 'basic public supply' with informations.

Many Germans think this service has grown much too big and they wish to ablish it in part or completely. They don't really trust the news spread by this service and they believe it is politically controlled and filtered, in other words, they see it as state run propaganda.

So if the survey published by the Deutsche Welle (part of the basic public supply since day one) includes all those who don't have trust in German TV, who are against the monthly fee for that service, the numbers of those believeing in conspiracy theories mights easily be as high as thirty percent of the population. Because those defending the fees and the exponential growth of the service - mainly politicians of the CDU and SPD and those who run the services - dismiss the nost important arguments against the service as conspiracy theories. Politicians controll these services, but beware, there is no political influence on what is reported and what is not...

Needless to say, the AFD is against the 'basic public supply' with informations and some other smaller parties also have some concerns. But if you are committed to pay for information even if you don't want it, what would you think?

[David]

Thanks, Koogleschreiber - I never made the connection between the resentment with the supply tax/license fee and acceptance of conspiracies. Next time I watch "Tagesschau" I'll keep in mind it's nothing but propaganda!

Here is an overview of the "Beitragsservice" in English:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beitragsservice_von_ARD,_ZDF_und_Deutschlandradio

[sol1]

"...the survey published by the Deutsche Welle..."

It wasn't published by the Deutsche Welle, but by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung - a foundation associated with the CDU:

https://www.kas.de/documents/252038/7995358/Eine+repr%C3%A4sentative+Umfrage+zu+Verschw%C3%B6rungstheorien.pdf/0f422364-9ff1-b058-9b02-617e15f8bbd8?version=1.0&t=1599144843148

"But if you are committed to pay for information even if you don't want it, what would you think?"

I don't see, what's the problem. A public-service broadcasting system provides a basic supply of information, which is valuable, when "the truth is paywalled but the lies are free":

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/the-truth-is-paywalled-but-the-lies-are-free/

[Koogleschreiber]

David, if you were living in Germany, I would ask you, which channel of the ARD you prefer to watch the Tagesschau. In fact, it doesn't really matter which, there are dozens of ARD Channels and they are all showing the same news. And maybe you would answer "Always The First" (Das Erste) as most people do and then I could ask why it would be necessary to run 20 or 30 or 50 more ARD channels to meet the basic supply with information?

In my opinion Deutsche Welle / Deutschlandfunk is clearly the best radio station in Germany. High quality news, culture, science, music - and no ads. It can be received all over Germany, so why do we need 600 more stations to meet the basic supply?

One TV channel and one radio station (without ads) would be enough. Pure entertainment like crime series, music shows like Musikantenstadl, sports etc. should be left to commercial TV and radio.

The Öffentlich-Rechtliche Grundversorgung has become a contradiction in terms. It is an all-inclusive supply with ads, talk shows, soaps, news and everything on hundreds of platforms. And yet they all call themselves Free TV despite of the fact everyone has to pay for it whether he has a tv or a radio or not.

Why not create a basic supply newspaper, ship it to every household and let everybody pay for it? Let's say for 200 Euros a year? Wouldn't it be extremely valuable compared with all those commercial newspapers not under control of CDU and SPD politicians?

[David]

ARD's monopoly position in Germany will surely diminish as more and more people turn to platforms such as Netflix and Amazon for entertainment and (unfortunately) to Facebook, YouTube and podcasts for news.

We have Public Television and National Public Radio in the US, but it only partially subsidized by the federal government and otherwise supported by voluntary donations by private citizens.

[sol1]

Interview with Michael Butter in this week's SPIEGEL issue:

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/how-conspiracy-theories-threaten-our-society-a-8185ac54-8181-4bb0-88e5-a9818a456719