Trump to Jake Tapper:
"I'm building a wall. I'm trying to keep business out of Mexico. Mexico's fine," Trump continued. "He's of Mexican heritage, and he's very proud of it, as I am of where I come from."
Trump is talking about Mexico in Judge Curiel’s case, so I assume Trump is talking about Germany in his. I’m sure Trump is also proud of being a New Yorker, but in context it seems like Trump is talking about where recent immigrant families come from overseas.
Trump’s grandfather moved from Germany to Alaska as an economic refugee (and possibly to avoid military service). Donald Trump’s great grandfather was relatively wealthy but the family lost their fortune treating an illness that killed him. Trump’s grandfather, then needing to find work (and evidently a bit of a runt) wasn’t strong enough to be a winemaker and therefore trained as a barber, but couldn’t earn enough so he emigrated. He made a fair amount of money in Alaska running a brothel/restaurant for gold miners. They paid him in gold. He returned to Germany to marry, then he immediately left again for NY when Germany found out about the draft dodging. That was 1902.
But more specifically, Trump’s family is from Kallstadt, Germany, a tidy city located along what is now known as the Weinstrasse, a NS corridor through the wine region that was defined by the Nazis. The region went from 6,500 Jewish citizens (many wine growers) to 900. Now a new generation of Germans grow wine, and try to move past original sins (we of course have our own).
To the credit of the people of Kallstadt, Trump doesn’t seem to be very popular. They of course see him as a cretin, a braggart (ironically, “braggart” is the town’s nickname) and not particularly good for their image. Less great is that the region seems to have voted for nationalist anti-immimgrant conservative candidates because of the migrant crisis. And then there’s the question of Trump’s pride in the town:
Between 1933 and 1940, the number of Jews in the region dropped from about 6,500 to 900, according to Roland Paul, director of an institute for Palatinate history and folklore studies
Many Germans are both haunted by the country's Nazi past and worried about the future amid a flood of Middle Eastern refugees. In recent regional elections, anxiety about the massive influx of immigrants helped the right-wing Alternative for Germany party gain support. Trump has called Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy "insane."
…
What's more, many here point out that in his 1987 book, "Trump: The Art of the Deal," Trump claimed Swedish ancestry. In the interview, Trump said he could not recall why he referred to Swedish heritage.
Where did Donald Trump get the idea to lie about his heritage? From his dad, Fred:
Trump’s ancestor, Hans Drumpf, first settled in Kallstadt in 1608, and his family owned a vineyard.[4]:25–26 In 1871, the Palatinate became part of the new German Empire. [Frederick] Trump's son Fred later denied his German heritage, instead claiming his father had been a Swede from Karlstad.[5]
en.wikipedia.org/…
Also:
Although both of Fred Trump's parents were born in Germany, Trump told friends and acquaintances for decades after World War II that the family was of Swedish origin. According to his nephew John Walter, "He had a lot of Jewish tenants and it wasn't a good thing to be German in those days."[2] In 1927, Trump was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in Jamaica, Queens; he was later released without charges.[3]
en.wikipedia.org/...
So, no Donald Trump wasn’t proud of his heritage in 1987. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t proud of being from Kallstadt now. Maybe he learned all about his heritage as many people do. Maybe he always knew. Whatever the case, now:
Mr. Trump boasts that he has “great German heritage,” and that he is “very proud of it.”
For myself, I’d be curious to know what “great” German heritage is? Is there a not so great German heritage, for example?
I’d also love to hear Trump talk honestly about what it is about Kallstadt that really turns Donald Trump on these days, in the context of his father’s interest in the KKK and his own racial statements and business practices… in the context of this for example:
In a 1991 book, one of Trump's former colleagues recalled him saying, "Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day." (Trump called the things written about him in the book "probably true.")
I’m sure Kallstadt these days is probably a pretty decent place, with a diversity or residents, some quite progressive. Germany after all, has many far more progressive aspects to their society than we do, but racism and xenophobia are persistent problems we both seem to face. Aside from all that it looks like a very quaint, prosperous and lovely area, full of wine tourists.
Evidently Trump thinks that Judge Curiel’s pride in his own Mexican heritage is some important existential thing, something he’d risk his entire career on to persecute Trump through the legal system. Really? Well, maybe Trump feels like those ancestral ties are that important, but most people wouldn’t, in my experience.
Jeez, Donald… what is it about coming from Kallstadt, Germany that swells you up with so much pride? What is this “great” German heritage you talk about, the one he and his father lied about and said was Swedish from after WWII all the way until at least 1987, and probably after? This secret German ancestry that was hidden away, but is now seen by Donald as the type of thing he’d risk a career over, if he was in Judge Curiel’s shoes?
To many it’s evident that all of this heritage stuff seems to be very much about race in Donald Trump’s mind and after seeing it all more in context, I think maybe I have a pretty good idea of where he’s “coming from” these days after all. Out of the closet, loud and proud with “great” German heritage from Kallstadt: “Dark past, bright future.”
If Donald Trump sees Judge Curiel as a Mexican, I think we’ve also heard very much from Trump what kind of German he sees himself as.