Man, this cover of the German magazine Der Spiegel (“The Mirror”) is far more provocative that the New Yorker cover! (For verification, see The Independent.)
The new cover of Der Spiegel
February 3, 2017 • 1:22 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
It’s insane. Like a lot of left-leaning people, they’ve clearly lost their head over Trump. If you look at the policies he’s pursuing as President, they’re perfectly normal conservative policies – the only difference is how fast he moves – but Der Spiegel, like a lot of people, seems to have decided he’s “Literally Hitler”.
The frenzy of overreaction has become self-feeding.
Indeed, the recent ban on immigration from select Muslim countries (namely countries that Trump does no business with) is perfectly normal conservative policy.
And Der Spiegel made no literal comparison to Hitler, they used a visual metaphor to compare Trump to a deranged psychopath.
Tell me, is this an example of perfectly normal conservative alternate facts ?
And building a $12-billion border wall…perfectly normal conservative policy.
So why didn’t they draw him with a trowel instead of a knife?
I think that would have worked nicely. A well used trowel can be razor sharp.
‘Cause if there’s one thing normal, standard-brand American conservatism has long been four-square in favor of, it’s Russian expansionism.
No wonder the Donald’s support in the bipartisan foreign-policy establishment is near universal.
If it came down to the American conservative establishing endorsing either Vladimir Putin’s aggressive imperialistic policies or watching hookers pee — one or the other — the mattress in presidential suite of the Moscow Ritz-Carlton is in for a good soaking.
On point one, the problem is your “ban” is not a ban, it’s a temporary restriction requiring an increased level of vetting, and it’s not an arbitrary selection of Muslim countries, but a selection of six of the most war-torn and active-terrorist-ridden countries on the planet right now, including four or five (depending on how you count) failed states, plus Iran, which is particularly hostile to the USA, and has a long history of sponsoring international terrorism. And nor is the order in any way out of the ordinary. Numerous Presidents have imposed restrictions on entry to the USA of particular groups of people or nationalities in the past, including every recent President going back to Jimmy Carter. Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, came to the USA under a policy that banned immigration from the USSR, except that of Jews, who were deemed refugees.
On the second point, no, Der Spiegel didn’t make a literal comparison to Hitler. They presented him as killing Liberty. But my use of the phrase “Literally Hitler” in quotes was to highlight a phrase that has been used so many times on the Left that it has become a joke.
The “temporary restriction” on Syrian refugees is indefinite.
Trump sold the “pause” as being to save USians from attacks and specifically referenced previous attacks. The problem is, no USian has been killed by a refugee or terrorist from any of the countries named.
And refugees to the US are already extreme vetted. The process takes 18 months to two years from the time of application and only a very small percentage make it through the process. The process for Syrians is already even though than for other refugees.
(See http://www.heatherhastie.com/trumps-refugee-ban-stupid/ for more info.)
If he really wanted to protect USians he’d be looking at the Visa waiver programme that allows the French easy access to the country. Or he’d include countries like Saudi Arabia (the home of 19 of the 9/11 terrorists) and others he has business interests in.
It’s a three month suspension. To continue past three months, it has to be reviewed. Out will be lifted if and when the vetting procedure is adequate to ensure terrorists don’t get through.
Although nobody has yet been killed in the U.S. by a terrorist from one of those countries, there have been multiple attempts. For example, several attempts were made but Somalis in 2016 which were stopped before anyone died. You may remember the Ohio State machete incident just a few weeks ago, and there are other cases that took place earlier in the year. The hostility of large sections of the populations of all these countries is a proven fact, there’s no justification to wait for American deaths before taking action.
Also, to you think Trump is going to stop with just this executive order? You can be sure he will move to strengthen checks on and monitoring of people who arrive from Europe and elsewhere.
It’s a three month suspension except for Syrians – for them it’s indefinite.
Given the things are in Syria right now, that’s judicious. It’s obviously not going to be a safe source of travelers for quite a while.
You clearly have no understanding of the process for Syrian refugees, and nor does the president.
Clearly, you are in a position to explain that process, so go ahead.
None, not one, of the 9/11 highjackers came from any of the countries banned in Trump’s executive order.
You are either willfully ignorant or lieing.
Irrelevant. Many of the people living in those countries are violent jihadists. Allies of ISIS run parts of Libya, for instance. They certainly will attempt terror attacks on American soil if given the opportunity. There have already been attempts, in fact.
I am willfully knowledgeable; you are a dupe of the lying press.
“active-terrorist-ridden countries on the planet right now”
The actual data shows almost no terrorist acts in the US caused by immigrants from those countries. The big acts of Islamic terrorism in the US were by immigrants from the countries Trump left off his list.
Oops, two of you beat me to it while I was typing.
Same lie, by the same lying press, being repeated by everyone in this thread. There have been MULTIPLE terror attempts by individuals grin several of those countries in the USA. The only part that’s true is that nobody was murders in these attempts (though in done cases people were injured). This because the attackers were thwarted, not because they lacked the will.
And suggesting that if the press doesn’t agree with him, they should shut up and listen – perfectly normal conservative policy to muzzle journalists
One difference to keep in mind in comparing Trump to Hitler is that Trump didn’t write a crackpot screed while in prison over a treason conviction.
At least not yet…
He would use a ghost writer.
😀
I’ve heard that he kept the original crackpot screed on his bed table. Much too hard to actually write one himself.
On current form, Soros is far more likely to end up in prison – for sponsoring domestic terrorism.
You are spinning conspiracy theories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Soros_conspiracy_theories
You shouldn’t trust fake news or alternative news or Kellyanne Conway.
No, I’m commenting on the well-known fact that his foundation sponsors left-wing protest groups, and some of them have turned out to be violent.
So you comdemn Soros, because some idiots in left-leaning groups start acting violently? Are you sure, you have no prejudices?
It depends how many times it happens. After a certain number of occasions, it’s going to be hard for him to claim lack of foreknowledge.
Tony Schwartz was the Donald’s Rudolph Hess. Difference being, he was a captive audience in Trump Tower, not Landsberg prison.
Or, in this case, literally ISIS! 🙂
Wouldn’t it be good if Der Spiegel ever plucked up the courage to depict Mohammed in this pose, as a criticism of Islam?
They daren’t. They know a race would ensue between ISIS-sponsored terrorists, on the one hand, and the German Thought Police on the other, as to who gets to inflict punishment first.
Your rhetoric here is really outstanding. Balancing ISIS and the politically correct; and above, the same for Soros’ “spotting of domestic terrorism” and left protest groups. If you’re trying to make an argument you’re shooting yourself in the foot before anyone can even listen.
(spotting = sponsoring)
Or want to listen – I stopped reading at the tu coque/Gish gallop of Soros (whatever he has to do with what Trump is currently doing against religious freedom in the US constitution).
One of our biggest Trump authoritarian look-alike prime ministers in recent times – the social democrat Göran Persson – went on record the day before in expecting Trump will be replaced by the VP due to impeachment in his first year of governance. We will see, but in any case Persson is no Soros. Or at least I assume so, I have not had reason to find out what Soros does.
Terrorism is still a crime when it results in a few injuries rather than a mass of deaths. By pointing out that Soros may be putting himself in jeopardy of terrorism charges, I am obviously not implying an equivalence to ISIS. You’re just making stuff up.
I love it.
The beheading is particularly disingenuous given whom the ban is supposed to exclude.
They could have gone with any other form of execution, but no, it had to be beheading.
One man’s disingenuousness is another man’s irony.
+ 1
Well, terrorism experts have already suggested that Trump’s travel ban only plays into the hands of ISIS so perhaps the beheading image is apt, regardless of what the ban is [i]supposed[/i] to achieve.
*tried to do italics but failed 🙂
Use the “greater than” and “less than” symbols for brackets in WordPress comments.
If you see square brackets like [this] in a comment it’s because the commenter was deliberately doing ‘faux HTML’ – most often for pseudo-tags like [/sarcasm].
Using angle brackets will produce the desired effect – I’m about to put angle brackets around the ‘i’ tags for this and I expect it will come out as italics.
cr
If the ban plays into the hands of ISIS, this would mean that it is more justified than it seems.
I mean, if some foreigners feel so entitled to be let in the USA that a ban makes them resort to terror, then maybe they are the type of foreigners to be kept out.
I’m sorry, but that makes no sense. It’s not refugees who are going to resort to terrorism. It’s other people made angry by the injustice.
I think that the injustice was done when millions of people were made refugees in the first place.
I also think that the angry people should be angry at Saudi Arabia, UAE and the other Muslim countries that take no refugees, and not only at the West.
The very selective anger of Muslim terrorists shows that it is not exactly injustice that angers them.
The online version is animated, the blood drips. It’s certainly an arresting image.
I suspect ISIS will get a kick out of it. Recruitment should be humming right along.
Süb
haha nice touch with the umlaut
I’d like to see what the teaser in the bottom right leaders to. Schule or School. Die Unverstandenen Problemkinder is misunderstanding problem children I suppose. My German is way rusty.
Misunderstood problem children
Sounds like yet another story about Trump.
Trump doing ISIS’s and other US hating terror group’s work for them? Yes indeed, right on target. Osama bin Laden stated it as a goal back around 09/11/01, and the Bush Jr administration gave him all he could have asked for. Trump is continuing to give, in spades.
So why didn’t they use an image like that when Obama was drone-striking weddings?
Only they could answer that.
Mainstream Europeans presumed Obama to be the good guy, regardless of his deeds. Remember, the Nobel Committee gave him the prize before he had done anything.
They were so relieved to be free of W that they forgot additional changes were needed.
If you start with beheadings, where do you escalate when he does something really bad?
Starting with beheadings? Trump has been under constant fire by the German press (conservative, liberal and left-leaning) since his inauguration. And they are doing a good job.
It’s a picture, nobody is actually getting beheaded.
That’s one for the ages. Unfortunately.
And only in reference to civil liberties in the US.
Trump will only serve as the excuse for the next orgasm of anti-American hate at “Der Spiegel.” The last one peaked about 15 years ago after reaching almost unbelievable extremes. It was hard to find any news about Germany on their website. Instead, it was filled with anti-American rants. Sometimes I felt like spittle was flying right out of the computer screen into my face. There are a lot of anti-American Germans, so this sort of thing is very lucrative for them. According to the latest article by Spiegel’s hard-left columnist Jacob Augstein, “After two weeks in office, it’s clear: Donald Trump has begun the process of transforming American democracy into a dictatorship. When will the point of no return be reached.” Seems a bit overwrought to me.
I think it looks overwrought because he isn’t beating people in the street or rounding them up to go to gas chambers but instead silencing opposition, including the press. David Frum wrote a really good article in the Atlantic about how autocracies now look a lot different from autocracies of the 1930s. It’s called How to Build an Autocracy
To me, Germany looks a lot worse in this respect.
How does Mr. Trump silence opposition?
There are at least signs for it. The investigation into voter fraud is one of them. Since there’s no real basis for this investigation, we have to at least consider an alternative agenda for this. The most logical explanation is that he could use this investigation to push even more registration laws, which is considered an effective way of surpressing the democrate vote.
I’ve seen the thugs at Berkeley and NYU silencing opposition. Not so much Trump. He must be a great deal more subtle about it.
I’m talking about how authoritarianism looks. People may laugh at those of us that point out how authoritarian the Trump government is because no one has been hauled away to a gas chamber but it’s authoritarianism none the less and the longer we sit back and say nothing, the faster the institutions that support democracy will be dismantled.
BTW, the churches in Germany were eager participants in the last wave of anti-Americanism. I saw sheets draped from their steeples covered with anti-American screeds.
Hey, it’s an offensive cartoon! Maybe we should storm the German embassy, burn the Bundesflagge und Handelsflagge, start a riot.
Or just hang up on Angela Merkel. 🙂
You are not up to date.
Since 1949 there’s no difference between Bundesflagge and Handelsflagge.
Thanks. (I’ve made a note to update my records. 🙂 )
Is that German law against insulting foreign leaders, the one that Merkel used to protect Erdogan, still in force?
According to media reports, the law will soon be overturned because Merkel dislikes Trump and wants him heavily criticized.
Can you specify those media reports?
The law has been on its way out since the Böhmermann affair, long before Trump was elected president. Among the driving forces were the Free Democratic Party, The Greens, and the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/25/germany-to-abolish-law-on-insulting-foreign-leaders-just-in-time-for-you-know-who/?utm_term=.9a63e9b6092a
“Merkel dislikes Trump”
What a surprise. Is there *any* leader who doesn’t?
cr
Putin.
I think that makes my point for me. 🙂
cr
True. But if I have a choice between just Merkel and Trump, I’d immediately choose Trump.
Ooooooo. I had forgotten that. Nice.
Perhaps it’s not Trump though. Perhaps it’s Mohammed in a Trump suit.
Knives out baby!
Dr. Coyne, in a prior thread about free speech you mentioned your distress at misunderstanding of what it means.
Well, NPR has posted to Facebook a big Milo at Berkely article, and this is the most “liked” comment:
“This isn’t an argument. The first amendment only applies if the GOVERNMENT shuts you up. It has no relevance on UC Berkely canceling his speech whatsoever.
Additionally, this is a person who uses his “speeches” to target individual students, transgender, possibly undocumented immigrants, feminists, and so forth for harassment and violence. It’s pretty goddamn clear that shutting him up protects innocent people from harm. There is no defending him.
He is certainly free to scream his beliefs on street corners like all the other crazed preachers, but if his beliefs cause his fellow citizens to run him out of town, well then…
He shouldn’t be a white supremacist. He shouldn’t be calling for people to be hurt. If he wasn’t dangerous to fellow Americans, maybe he’d be tolerated in public without two rows of police to give him his fucking safe space.”
But the protesters became violent, I thought. Children.
Free speech is based on the first amendment, but it doesn’t begin and end there. It’s valid to be concerned about the muzzling, or violent put-down, of opposing viewpoints when that occurs at our universities, which is where ideas are supposed to be openly debated, even when an idea is reviled. And Berkeley most of all!
That’s rich. Milo is the villain, right? Who are you going to believe, dd, or your lying eyes? Milo is a “white supremacist,” right? What are you going to believe, what the man has actually said and written, or what dd tells you to believe? Do you really think it’s “perfectly legal” to silence people you disagree with? Try reading 42 U.S. Code § 1985 – Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.
If you really want to know what Yiannopoulos thinks, try stepping outside the echo chamber for a moment and read his book, “Dangerous.” It won’t be released until March 14, but it’s already the #1 best seller on Amazon.
dd and his fellow thugs are the ones who are “dangerous to fellow Americans.” Let them continue to strut around with their baseball bats for a while. I think they’ll find they’re not the only ones who can carry baseball bats.
I would like to thank at some point Trump’s children ask him to calm down.
Sadly this cover will have no effect on him.