The Trump/Merkel press conference

[TallGeekyGirl]

Two related stories from the meeting today.

Here comes today's least surprising news. *Insert long, exasperated sigh.*

President Trump is getting destroyed on Twitter after his extremely awkward press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

http://mashable.com/2017/03/17/twitt...ss-conference/

No matter how hard we want it to, 2016's election never seems to fully go away.

For many women who chose to watch President Trump's joint press conference with Angela Merkel on Friday, the experience hit far too close to home. Not only did Trump's body language mirror his movements on the debate stage with Hillary Clinton (when will that memory go away?) it reminded them of their own personal interactions with powerful men who seemed to resent their presence.

http://mashable.com/2017/03/17/trump...body-language/

[Lainie]

She didn't laugh at his "little joke" about "wiretapping." He seems like the kind of person who would take offense and pout about something like that. Was that before or after the refusal to shake hands?

[dfresh]

I am starting to think he is really working hard at destroying the country. In one day he managed to really offend the UK and annoy Germany. He is working to undermine the US's power in science, and pour money down the rats nest that is military spending, and making it so the next generation of smart, industrious immigrants will look a lot harder at Australia, Canada, or Europe instead of here.

[Mouse]

dfresh, I've long suspected that the GOP is made up of people who believe so strongly in Grover Norquist's adage about how "The government should be shrunk down until it is small enough to be drowned in a bathtub," that they decided to go into politics to bring down the government from within. Can anyone deny that it doesn't make sense?

They're pretty much the living embodiment of that GK Chesterton quote I like.

You've got that eternal idiotic idea that if anarchy came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor have been rebels, but they have never been anarchists; they have more interest than any one else in there being some decent government. The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes been objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all. Aristocrats were always anarchists, as you can see from the barons' wars.

It's a good quote because like he said, "The rich have always objected to being governed at all." The only thing wrong with that quote is the usage of the word, anarchist. Anarchists are generally opposed to racism, sexism, or any kind of -ism that keeps people from being who they are. And most will admit that if the state is destroyed, there will still be government, though it will be on a more tribal band level than a massive, distant state.

Whereas Trump and the GOP...if they are Anarchists, they are of the nasty variety where they aren't opposed to oppressive -isms, so long as they apply to everyone who isn't them.

[gopher]

Interesting to compare the leader of the Free World with orange lunatic currently in the White House.

[ganzfeld]

Can someone tell me how to say "It squicked me out then but Wtf I wouldn't give for an awkward-ass backrub from that airhead schmuck George now" in German? (ETA - Because, damn you Google translate, as smart as you are, I think at the very least you're misplacing a hyphen: Es hat mich aber rausgeschmissen, aber Wtf würde ich nicht für einen ungeschickten Arsch-Backrub von diesem Airhead schmuck George jetzt geben.)

[mbravo]

ganz- I'm laughing nervously at the mental image of a world leader receiving an arse-backrub from another world leader

[Don Enrico]

Damals fand ich es ekelig, aber verdammt, was würde ich heute nicht für einen Arschgrabscher von dem hohlköpfigen Knilch George geben!

[E. Q. Taft]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Anarchists are generally opposed to racism, sexism, or any kind of -ism that keeps people from being who they are.

My experience is that, while they will claim (perhaps sincerely) that they are not racist/sexist/etc., they will argue that it is the right of those who are to practice discrimination if they want to -- i.e., if you want to run a whites-only restaurant, or only hire male workers (or pay them more), the government should not be able to stop you. The usual argument is that the free market advantage will go to those who don't practice such discrimination. The fact that even with laws prohibiting such discrimination, it still exists, seems to undermine that. (Whites-only restaurants didn't open their doors to blacks because they realized that it would increase their potential customer base; they did it because the government made them do it.)

A friend of mine some years back believed that libertarians (a certain strain of them, anyway) were people who believed they would be rich if the government weren't stealing all their money -- adding that if the ones who actually manage to get rich turn into conservatives. They still want the government off their own backs, but they want it strong enough to keep the rabble in line. Hence the authoritarian strain that comes from a large segment of the conservative movement these days.

[Dr. Winston O'Boogie]

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

Damals fand ich es ekelig, aber verdammt, was würde ich heute nicht für einen Arschgrabscher von dem hohlköpfigen Knilch George geben!

English is a Germanic language - many of the root words are obvious. So, I see "Arschgrabscher", and think "Yeah, sooner or later, Trump will try to grab her arse, probably starting WWIII."

[ChasFink]

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

Damals fand ich es ekelig, aber verdammt, was würde ich heute nicht für einen Arschgrabscher von dem hohlköpfigen Knilch George geben!

Everything just sounds so much more expressive in German!

[Dreams of Thinking Machines]

I think to read Trump's body language you'd need to consult with a proctologist.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by E. Q. Taft

My experience is that, while they will claim (perhaps sincerely) that they are not racist/sexist/etc., they will argue that it is the right of those who are to practice discrimination if they want to -- i.e., if you want to run a whites-only restaurant, or only hire male workers (or pay them more), the government should not be able to stop you. The usual argument is that the free market advantage will go to those who don't practice such discrimination. The fact that even with laws prohibiting such discrimination, it still exists, seems to undermine that. (Whites-only restaurants didn't open their doors to blacks because they realized that it would increase their potential customer base; they did it because the government made them do it.)

That's because the Free Hand of the Marketplace is a myth. Capitalism fails for the same reason Communism does: in order to function they both require people to acting like people.

[damian]

I feel embarrassed for America. The way he sat like a petulant child and refused to even acknowledge the request for a handshake was unbelievable. Maybe he was still embarrassed about the over-exuberant way he shook hands with Shinzō Abe a few weeks ago.

[Sylvanz]

Years ago, I went with our (male) lead singer to book a job. When we had an agreement the bar owner wouldn't shake my hand because I was "a woman." Ugh, the more things change the more they remain.

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by crocoduck_hunter

Capitalism fails for the same reason Communism does: in order to function they both require people to acting like people.

Do you mean, they both require people to stop acting like people?

If so, can I steal that quote? That's a great line; and all too accurate.

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Lainie

She didn't laugh at his "little joke" about "wiretapping." He seems like the kind of person who would take offense and pout about something like that. Was that before or after the refusal to shake hands?

Originally Posted by damian

I feel embarrassed for America. The way he sat like a petulant child and refused to even acknowledge the request for a handshake was unbelievable. Maybe he was still embarrassed about the over-exuberant way he shook hands with Shinzō Abe a few weeks ago.

I have said before that I have often wondered if my problems with Trump are because I am a middle aged leftie who wanted the first woman president. But then he does something like this and I know it is more then that. The number of times he looks like a petulant child just make me shake my head. For nfbsk sake could he at the very least at like an adult if he can't manage acting like a world leader.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by thorny locust

Do you mean, they both require people to stop acting like people?

If so, can I steal that quote? That's a great line; and all too accurate.

Yes, that's what I meant to say and by all means feel free to use it.

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by damian

I feel embarrassed for America. The way he sat like a petulant child and refused to even acknowledge the request for a handshake was unbelievable. Maybe he was still embarrassed about the over-exuberant way he shook hands with Shinzō Abe a few weeks ago.

or he might have looked at how tough she looked, and thought she would outsqueeze him the way Trudeau did...

"No way am I getting my tiny mitts crushed by a woman who is not at least an 8!"

[Darth Credence]

That was my thought as well, Alarm. I wonder if more people are short circuiting his ridiculous handshake, and he is now embarrassed enough that he won't shake hands in public any more.