Der Spiegel calls for removal of Trump from White House

Donald Trump, said Germany’s Der Spiegel, is “unfit to be President of the United States” and Americans are in a tizzy.

In a scathing editorial, followed by an even more blunt op-ed, the German magazine was unsparing in what turned out to be Trump’s disastrous trip to Europe. The magazine did not pull punches while writing that Trump “does not possess the requisite intellect and does not understand the significance of the office he holds. He doesn't read. He doesn't bother to peruse important files and intelligence reports and knows little about the issues that he has identified as his priorities. His decisions are capricious and they are delivered in the form of tyrannical decrees.”

The magazine then went on to suggest that since it was unlikely that the United States would or could get rid of Trump before the completion of his four-year term, the international community should find a way to “circumvent the White House and free itself of its dependence on the US.”

Accusing the US President of being a man free of morals and describing him as a liar, racist and a cheat, the magazine called him a ‘danger to the world’ and underlined the need to remove him from the White House ‘quickly’.

Calling the US politician a ‘miserable politician’, it goes on to say that Trump is also a miserable boss. “His people invent excuses for him and lie on his behalf because they have to, but then Trump wakes up and posts tweets that contradict what they have said. He doesn't care that his spokesman, his secretary of state and his national security adviser had just denied that the president had handed Russia (of all countries) sensitive intelligence gleaned from Israel (of all countries). Trump tweeted: Yes, yes, I did, because I can. I'm president after all.”

The unusual editorial comments reflect the deteriorating relationship between the White House and Europe and rising concerns. European newspapers have reported Trump as saying in private conversations that ‘Germans are bad, very bad’ and predictably this has not gone down well in Germany.

Reflecting the concerns, Der Spiegel wrote, “ In the Pacific, warships - American and Chinese - circle each other in close proximity. The conflict with North Korea is escalating. Who can be certain that Donald Trump won't risk nuclear war simply to save his own skin? Efforts to stop climate change are in trouble and many expect the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Agreement because Trump is wary of legally binding measures.”

“Crises, including those in Syria and Libya, are escalating, but no longer being discussed. And who should they be discussed with? Phone calls and emails to the U.S. State Department go unanswered. Nothing is regulated, nothing is stable and the trans-Atlantic relationship hardly exists anymore.”

“In Game of Thrones, the Mad King was murdered (and the child that later took his place was no better). In real life, an immature boy sits on the throne of the most important country in the world. He could, at any time, issue a catastrophic order that would immediately be carried out. That is why the parents cannot afford to take their eyes off him even for a second. They cannot succumb to exhaustion because he is so taxing. They ultimately have to send him to his room - and return power to the grownups.”