A chilling encounter with a German student left me shaking...
As a part-time Boston Uber/Lyft driver, conversing with the many international students filling our many colleges and universities can sometimes proved quite the eye-opener. But no encounter has ever left me as shaken as my Saturday ride with a German student coming home from a goodbye party. His parents came to the painful and hard decision some grandparents did not make 80 some years ago. He departs for home on Monday, without finishing his semester because fear is spreading across Germany.
I was honestly and sincerely just stunned speechless to hear that his parents screamed at them, "the unthinkable has happened and America has fallen, you need to get OUT NOW before it's too late."
Not will fall.
Not is falling.
But American has FALLEN.
They needed no more proof than France's far right, fascist party invited to Trump Tower and Le Pen announcing they are collaborating together.
I heard how many old and wise Germans are sounding the clarion call.
I admit since the election I have been consumed with rage and too focused on the blame game. I have been too insulated here in Boston. Too disgusted by an American press gossiping like irresponsible tabloid journalists over which nutcase or crony will Trump name to his cabinet, to really pay attention to the world press.
Tonight I drove home and for hours been reading Germany's Der Speigel and I'm just chilled to the bone...
A fascist taking over America will topple France next Germans are warning. France falling will destroy the European Union which in turn, will topple Merkel and without her strong, reassuring voice the once unthinkable will happen again in Germany. Without American support against Putin, European democracies will tumble.
"Many in Brussels are concerned that the EU is facing the same fate as the US -- namely that Front National leader Marine Le Pen could end up being elected president in France and that Frauke Petry, head of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany, could even take over the German Chancellery. Such a thing might seem unimaginable, but many thought that Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential elections was unimaginable too.
The anger that many voters feel against government institutions and the establishment, the anger that propelled Trump to the presidency, is also widely present in Europe. But nobody has yet found an answer for how to oppose it. "I don't know whether it will be possible to confront the distrust of Brussels," says Rebecca Harms, floor leader for the Green Party in European Parliament. The skepticism, she adds, isn't just fueled by concerns about having been left behind by globalization, but also by the desire to return to nationalist identity. Left-wing and right-wing ideology is becoming mixed, she says. "At the moment, I am unnerved."
www.spiegel.de/...
A German, Johan Franklin, tweeted,
"Dear Americans,
Go ahead, vote for the guy with the loud voice who hates minorities, threatens to imprison his opponents, doesn't give a fuck about democracy, and claims he alone can fix everything. What could possibly go wrong.
Good luck.
- The people of Germany
#beentheredonethat
I literally live 1 mile from Harvard and my stomach dropped further when I read this professor's response:
"Like any number of us raised in the late 20th century, I've spent my life perplexed about exactly how Hitler could have come to power in Germany. Watching Donald Trump's rise, I now understand."
- Professor Danielle Allen, Harvard University
Like with World War II, one domino toppling will lead to another to another and another...
2016 Brexit
2016/2017 America falls to fascism
2017 France, European Union then Germany
Who will be left to step in and be the beacon of hope this time? Soon to be the world's largest economy, China, is too busy celebrating the defeat of TPP and their dreams realized of supreme dominance over South East Asia.
During my childhood, the threat of a thermo-nuclear World War III war was all too real so this song has always resonated with me.
Many Germans recognize we're really on the eve of destruction because they've been here before, but, like John Adams complained to Abigail in 1775, right now we're too busy fighting amongst ourselves to UNITE against our common enemy.
Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. - John Adams, 1775