Merkel vs. Trump: in the eye of the beholder
Here’s the photo of a G7 moment tweeted by Merkel:
First of all, let me say it’s a great photo. Merkel is of course (she’s the one who tweeted it) the supposed hero (heroine? is that an outdated word?), standing up against the stubborn mule of a Trump.
Merkel and the world against him. That’s the idea.
And that’s what those who detest Trump will see, and it’s not an invalid interpretation. Trump’s views are not especially popular in Europe or Canada, to say the least (Merkel is here flanked by Marcon and May, of France and Britain respectively, although you can’t see May very well). And Trump is indeed a stubborn guy.
But the photo is far more complex than that. Look at the range of emotions, and the two sides arrayed against each other. For Trump is hardly alone, either. If you look at it as a composition, you will see that the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is mirroring Trump’s posture, which in body language is usually taken to mean some sort of alliance. Macron, on the other hand, is mirroring Merkel’s posture—although, strangely enough, so is Trump advisor Larry Kudlow, at least to a certain extent. He is on the far left.
And of course Bolton is standing near Trump as ally, although that hardly counts as an international supporter, since he’s an American advisor to Trump. But Bolton tweeted the very same photo with a different take:
Just another #G7 where other countries expect America will always be their bank. The President made it clear today. No more. (photo by @RegSprecher) pic.twitter.com/emAVNqRqhc
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) June 9, 2018
As for me, when I looked at Trump’s expression, one thing that came to mind was Churchill’s stubborn bulldog look:
Churchill was often isolated, too—although believe me, I’m not saying Trump is a Churchill. What I am saying is that stubbornly standing your ground against a group is not necessarily bad, and going along with a group (particularly Western Europe) is not necessarily good.
And then there’s this, which I find fascinating:
One scene – four different perspectives #G7
1) by Merkel”˜s team 🇩🇪
2) by Macron’s team 🇫🇷
3) by Conte’s team 🇮🇹
4) by Trump’s team 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/q3qaSfaiQS— Fabian Reinbold (@fabreinbold) June 9, 2018
The other photos are somewhat jumbled and neutral—far less dramatic—and don’t tell much of a story at all.
Bolton is doing the talking.
When this pic first hit the net…the first thing I saw was PM Abe looking like the Japanese version of Trump staring over the top of Merkel’s head at Macron & May.
I have a feeling the new power center is US/Japan & the Euros don’t like it one bit.
My lingering question: When does Trump throw the UN out of New York or at least start making them pay the bills? Wouldn’t that put the cat amongst the G7 pigeons?
“. . .although believe me, I’m not saying Trump is a Churchill.” [Neo]
Okay, then I will. I do believe that Trump has the makings of a modern day Churchill.
As you point out Neo, both willing to stand, alone if necessary, against opposition; both stubborn as the day is long; both willing to profess a love of country with absolute authority; both willing to believe in their own country’s imperative to victory (Churchill in war, Trump in economic success).
Furthermore, I believe that they both also had/have a belief in their own special place in history.
Now, of course Churchill is a historically proven commodity, Trump is not, at least not yet. But also remember that Churchill, too, was greatly underappreciated in his own time. So much so that after that war in which he was so pivotal, he was rejected as prime minister.
Trump from the beginning of his campaign asserted that his goal was to overturn the existing international order which he described as unfair. What else his slogan “America First!” could have mean? Why so many people still do not believe that he was serious and wants to do exactly what he declared he will? It is about the time to accept that this is the case, and that his often outrageous claims are not empty boasts. He is a revolutionary of the sorts in times when revolution is badly needed. Those who paint him as a clown just deny reality of the crumbling international order and the collapse of liberal ideology.
I think that picture will go down in History.
Out of curiosity, I looked at the
G7 Communique. 4,064 words of the same old, same old. The globalists have spouted these empty promises for decades, thinking that the hoi polloi were dumb enough to continue to believe them; and that they would retain the power to which they felt entitled.
But then came Trump, a Black Swan with a battle cry of “Make America Great Again!” that roused the deplorables to take back their nation. The was preceded by Britain’s Brexit, and followed by the rise of populist parties in France and Germany, creating anxiety in their leadership. And now, Italy’s populist party has risen to power.
Shinzo Abe is clearly in firm alignment with President Trump.
And Justin Trudeau’s naivete (and eyebrow) showed that Canadians had been foolish.
So, I see that picture far differently than Ms Merkel did.
Neo, good call on comparing the Churchill bulldog look with Trump.
I just had to add this link to the story of how that famous photo of Churchill was taken.
T:
One of the many things I admire about Churchill is his use of the English language. No one can compare, but Trump is really the anti-Churchill in that regard.
Sergey:
I think some people are having trouble with the concept that Trump is “serious and wants to do exactly what he declared he will” for a number of possible reasons, not all of them mutually exclusive.
The first is that they don’t approve of what he wants to do on the face of it. The second is that they think it will have terrible and frightening consequences. The third is that the promises people make during campaigns are so often NOT something they are serious about accomplishing, so it seems somewhat unusual that he plans to follow through on promises people thought were just empty campaign talk.
This gives a slightly different perspective:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dfb1iHlUEAAVZoj.jpg:large
Don’t forget the challenge that Trump tossed out – get rid of tariffs, barriers and subsidies.
I know Charles Payne of Fox Business tweeted out some of the high tariffs that Canada imposes on US products. I saw another comparison of the price of a US car in US cf other countries. The car was priced at $50,000 here but was $60,000-$90,000 in EU countries.
We have been in a trade war for a long time, it has not made the headlines in the US.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand lies. I’ve noticed that almost all pictures involving politics, left or right, are chosen for their propaganda value.
Neo,
I will not disagree with your comment about Chruchill (v. Trump) and facility with language. In that arena it is clearly no contest. Trump is clearly no intellectual in the academic sense of the word, but IMO that is precisely why he is so disliked by the Uniparty media complex. They prefer style over substance (Bill Kristol preferring the deep state?), and Trump comes off as one of the brash hoi polloi. They look down their credentialed noses at them (ignoring Trump’s Wharton degree) and they hate him, too.
Liz – your last statement is the key. Trump recognized the war whereas everyone else was ignoring it because they’re globalists and Trump’s a nationalist.
This looks as an obvious stretch for me to compare Duke of Marlborough to a vulgarian Yankee from New York just because of strong will and unfettered resolve. More appropriate comparison would be to Andrew Jackson, whose politics is summed up in Wiki as follows: “Jackson’s name has been associated with Jacksonian democracy or the shift and expansion of democracy with the passing of some political power from established elites to ordinary voters based in political parties.” Walter Russel Mead already made this comparison in the early days of Trump campaign and since then was proved to be right.
Not just stubbornness. Poise.
I love the photo because it shows Trump’s poise. He’s almost surrounded in the photo. His allies are Bolton and Shinzo Abe (I’m not sure we could see the Italian delegation, who I am told were also allied with him).
They surround him. Trump is seated so they have the physical high ground. And yet, who looks calm and in control?
Trump.
That picture will go down in history and not for the reasons Merkel’s people want it to.
It reminds me of a quote:
“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides something wrong is right. This country was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or consequences. When the mob and the press and the world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree by the river of truth and tell the whole world-“No. You move.”
-Captain America, The Amazing Spiderman #537*
*I’ve heard that this was taken from an original Mark Twain quote. Not sure if that’s true.
And it is Twain. I went and looked in my comics to reread it and the Cap gives credit to Mark Twain too.
And in the next second you get this picture:
https://twitter.com/SaintRPh/status/1005856861193756678/photo/1
Gerard vanderleun Says:
June 11th, 2018 at 8:13 pm
And in the next second you get this picture:
https://twitter.com/SaintRPh/status/1005856861193756678/photo/1
* * *
As a commenter there said:
” The point is: Photo editors enjoy a great deal of control in building an editorial narrative.”
or perhaps better
“The free breakfast was adequate; but for the last time, I am simply not interested in timeshare opportunities in Plauen.”
Another arrogant German lecturing another patient American- that’s what I see. The former full of un-self-aware righteous indignation, and the latter resigned to having to put up with it out of politeness.
“One man with courage is a majority” T. Jefferson
This photo perfectly illustrates Scott Adam’s “Two movies, one screen” phenomenon. I can only see Abe and Trump calling BS on the business-as-usual posture of Merkel and the Davos crowd. I’m sure other people see Trump as a petulant child in a “you can’t make me” stand off with the Merkel parent.
I know the advocates of the old world order will make a lot of noise about body language and who’s supporting whom, but they’re just whistling past the graveyard. There’s not a person in the world who doesn’t recognize that when you’re the one who can stay in your seat and make your opponents come to you to plead their case, regardless of how aggressively they do it, you’re the one with the whip hand.
You’re stubborn.
I’m steadfast.
I tried to explain Trump’s appeal to liberal (well, Leftists of various stripes) colleagues and friends and it was as if I were speaking gibberish in a foreign language. They will probably never “get it.”
Oddly, the very liberal wife of a colleague, who had held very high positions in several major corporations got my point immediately. She said (as I remember, not a direct quote), “Yes, he reminds me of several *sshole big corp execs I’ve had to deal with. But they, and he, mean what they say, and when you have a deal, you have a deal. They appeal to a great many who hate but don’t understand some process that they feel is hurting them. They cut through the bullshit and get things done. People like that.”
She had to deal with Chainsaw Al Dunlap and said he was a junior, and less successful, Trump and almost certainly a sociopath. She saw no psychopathy in Trump.
The man on the left gripping the table with both hands while looking down is Larry Kudlow. When he got back to D.C. he had a heart attack. Unintended consequences made real.