Mr. Röttgen Goes to Washington

Norbert Röttgen is a member of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union, Chancellor Merkel’s party) and the chairman of the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs. The following clip featuring him was broadcast on German public TV ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), news format “Heute”, on January 27.

Mr. Röttgen explains that he is planning to visit Washington D.C. and attempt to assemble a coalition of allies who can manage to stop and roll back the changes being made by President Donald Trump.

After watching this video, I have just two things to say about (and to) Mr. Norbert Röttgen.

Firstly (restraining myself with great effort), to this dimple-chinned immaculately-coiffed ever-so-suave apparatchik: This is America’s business, not yours, so BUTT OUT!

Secondly, Mr. Röttgen says: “These executive orders that he is issuing now are not laws. It is not lawmaking.” Did this esteemed legal beagle of the Bundestag object to a single executive order of the thousands issued by former President Obama? No, of course he didn’t — those actions were taken by the Magic Negro, and were thus intrinsically perfect and worthy of becoming the law of the land.

Sheesh.

Many thanks to Egri Nök for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:01   Member of [German] Parliament Norbert Röttgen will soon visit Washington
00:05   and see for himself how much, in the world of Donald Trump, remains
00:09   of the gravitas of the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the German Bundestag.
00:15   Mr. Röttgen, good evening — will you gird yourself?
00:18   Good evening, Mr. Kleber. Yes, I believe we must gird ourselves.
00:22   But we must lead the fight. It is about the fundamentals.
00:26   It is about what brought 70 years of peace and prosperity for Europe.
00:31   That is fundamentally challenged by the elected President.
00:35   We cannot accept that. We must fight for this alliance, this order,
00:40   this liberal international order.
00:43   You will surely need allies in Washington for this fight.
00:47   A lone traveller, a member of parliament — from what we’ve seen, not even a lone traveller leader
00:52   can change Mr. Trump’s mind. How do you intend to manage it?
00:57   I have no illusions that my journey will be seen as important or that I will get a dialog.
01:04   But Mr. Trump, the president, has not yet got a majority in Congress.
01:09   For many of the things that he proclaims — the obsolescence of NATO,
01:13   that the EU does not matter, or embracing torture —
01:17   I see no majority in Congress for that. And I believe
01:21   that we must forge new forms of alliances. Social alliances.
01:25   This is a great confrontation, in the Western world and beyond:
01:30   those values that Mr. Trump embodies — or those who are for
01:33   the liberal democratic values on which we must insist.
01:36   We must seek this dispute actively, in company with all who are on our sides.
01:41   Could you give me a clearer idea of what this could be, a social alliance?
01:47   An alliance, for example, of members of European Parliaments,
01:53   of the German Bundestag, with Senators, Republican Senators too,
01:58   and members of the House of Representatives, so, the Congress as a whole,
02:03   who do not support Russia as a new partner for deals,
02:07   who see NATO as absolutely essential for distributing peace and stability,
02:11   and who do not deem it a matter of technical expediency
02:15   whether to torture or not, but a fundamental question of human dignity.
02:19   This conflict is taking place in the USA; we saw the demonstrations.
02:23   These values are present in the American political system, too,
02:28   A system of checks and balances. Those are majority values
02:32   being represented, and we have to ally with them.
02:35   Nevertheless, Mr. Trump had 303 electoral delegates backing him.
02:40   He made a spectacular ascent from an outsider to the winner of the election,
02:45   and as of this moment, the people in his own party, who have
02:49   large majorities, in the Senate and in the House of Representatives,
02:53   who will soon control the Supreme Court, the Governors,
02:56   those Republicans who soon will have primacy in the whole country —
03:00   they seemed, on this session of Congress today, from where our correspondent reported,
03:04   downright hand-tame, faced with the superior winner.
03:09   Yes, that is true. Of course, the momentum is with the electoral winner.
03:15   The Democrats are paralyzed by their own electoral defeat.
03:19   Trump managed a hostile takeover of the Republican Party.
03:24   He is not the true candidate of that party.
03:28   But nevertheless, for starters, there is an opportunistic attraction
03:32   towards the man who now holds power, but there is also, erm, erm,
03:37   articulate resistance; John McCain is one of them.
03:40   And when it becomes specific, legislation needs to be passed.
03:44   These executive orders that he is issuing now are not laws.
03:50   It is not lawmaking. It is an insinuation of the direction that is supposed to be taken.
03:54   But in the end, for the wall against Mexico,
03:58   10, 20 billion dollars must be allocated in the budget,
04:02   and so forth. This means, the Parliament, the Congress, will have to decide.
04:06   And I do not see that these decisions have even a remote majority currently.
04:11   This means there will be a fight in the American political system, and in society.
04:16   By the way, there is fresh news concerning the wall,
04:19   the White House spokesman has just announced that
04:22   the government is considering a 20 percent import tax
04:25   on everything from Mexico,
04:28   and that way one could marvellously, considering the current low average interest rates,
04:31   finance a multi-billion dollar wall along the Mexican border.
04:37   The Mexican president would not have to come to Washington that way.
04:41   In the light of such ideas — in which condition is the EU?
04:45   Or let me expand my question — does anyone have a concept
04:49   how the EU can be forged together, not divided, by this pressure?
04:54   Regarding your first question — the EU is, unfortunately,
04:58   in the 60th year of its existence — 1957 the contracts of Rome —
05:02   in the worst condition of its history.
05:05   The sickness of the EU has a name: egoism, state egoism,
05:09   sometimes even nationalism, which is paralyzing us, and
05:12   in order to achieve European results — we are not capable of compromise anymore, and —
05:16   This would be a great moment for the cure, after you have stated this so clearly.
05:20   Yes, it is the — the cure, the wake-up call, could not be stronger.
05:24   Nevertheless, it has not quite begun, erm, not quite gotten to everybody.
05:27   We are under danger, under threat from the East — an aggressive Russia under Putin.
05:32   We have the South, the Middle East that is burning, and now
05:36   the Western alliance is questioned in Washington, in the USA.
05:41   We have to — we are bound to come together, to overcome our egoisms,
05:47   and develop one strong European voice. It won’t be able to replace the USA,
05:51   but it is the first prerequisite that we stand up
05:55   for our values and interests. It is one minute to twelve for Europe.
05:59   And on this light note, we have to end our conversation. Thank you, Mr. Röttgen.
 

21 thoughts on “Mr. Röttgen Goes to Washington

    • Fitzroy – What a wikileak. The writer of it has an email address of “orca100@upcmail.nl” I wonder who that might be?

      From the last paragraph of “orca100’s” email – “There must have been a
      point in my life when I simply gave up on a country whose Yapping Classes appear to have all the acuity of mind seen in a special-needs schoolyard and all the moral courage found in a weasel farm.”

      I think we need to ask Mr. Röttgen if he is “special needs” or “weasel”. Maybe both?!

      Anyway, thank you for the post Fitzroy. Recommend everyone here click into the link and have a read. It’s a bit long and very descriptive of the horrors of multiculti with numerous links provided.

  1. What a terrible drivel of a loonie fearing the change … laughable. And yes, Barron – this is our American business, so Mr. R., here is a message for you: SHUT UP.

  2. Interference in the internal affairs of another country. Good luck with that.

    The arrogance and impudence of these people is breathtaking to behold!

    • I would be very surprised if it is legal for a foreign politician to visit the US and rally against the sitting president.

      It’s certainly a violation of diplomatic norms.

      I am sure they can refuse him entry at the border anyway. That was even done against Canadian anti-Trump protesters.

      However, turning him away at the border is hardly even necessary and perhaps even counterproductive because of the attention it would give him.

      Just let him in. What American politician will want to be seen to be the one responding to a Merkel-flunky German politican’s rally for support in the US against our President? Even the loonie democrats are hardly so loony. And those who do meet with him will pay for it politically.

      He is an illustration of how out-of-touch with reality such European politicans are.

  3. “The sickness of the EU has a name: egoism, state egoism”

    The sickness of the EU has several other names, Globalism, the egotism of Euro bureaucrats.
    So what exactly does this Rottgen guy think he will achieve in his visit to the US? If he goes with the attitude he displays, like some tut tutting schoolmaster he is wasting his breath.

    • In the EU context, ‘Nationalism’ means to Merkel’s regime, not going along with Merkel’s regime; ‘solidarity’ to Merkel’s regime means going along with Merkel’s regime.

  4. The way these politicians talk you would swear that it was President Trump who is solely responsible for the chaos in the Middle East and the catastrophic decisions to allow million of invaders into Europe. That it was he who the maniac laughing about the death of Gaddafi? I know that most sensible people had such fear for our world had Clinton won. What exactly was Obama’s legacy for African Americans? Are they any better off? The absolute nerve of Germany sticking it’s unwanted beak in America’s affairs. As they say, “first get your own house in order”.

  5. Actually, Trump is in a great position to turn the tables here.

    The Trump executive orders are LAWFUL and it is a matter of semantics whether you call them ‘law’. There IS a specific law on the books authorising the president to restrict borders in this way.

    But Angela Merkel’s breaking of the borders in Germany, to unlawfully admit over a million people is another story entirely. It was an illegal act of dictatorship, and the biggest violation of democracy and rule of law in Germany since the Hitler era. It has already drastically encroached on the safety of women in Germany already.

    Talk about pot scolding the kettle!

    Maybe Trump should scold Merkel about rule of law for a change!

    • Under U.S. Code, the president does have the statutory authority to keep anyone out of the country, for any reason he thinks best. Per 8 USC §1182

      “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”

      Now, Merkel: where’s your authorization in German Law to break the German borders?

  6. One should not be that harsh to Mr. Röttgen. He also has the right to his opinion!
    President Trump was a busines man and still has that more direct approach to problem solving. His behaviour is a-typical for an European politician and especially to a German one. Here we see a kind of cultural clash developing. Compared to the British, where a year ago there was discussion in Parliament whether Mr.Trump should not be allowed to enter the country, the German top brass was critizing Trump all the way during the election campaign. Now he I S the president of the USA and they have to work with him whether the like it or not. So I would not take too seriously that babbel. As one can see, Prime Minister Ms. May was quick to travel to Washington and see the new president. It seems to me that a more pragmatic approach to his presidency is worthwhile.

    • Its not just the contrast between Trump and a European politician. Trump is not a career politician, but a business person. Doing things in an efficient way is standard operating procedure for a business person.

      I work in a private firm, but have to deal with the government. My co-workers do more in a day that what the government employees we deal with do in a week.

  7. What a blo.dy hide. This bloke comes from a country which has not pulled its weight in defending it’s self for seventy five years . After not one but two failed attempts to rule Europe. A country which has sucked at the nipple of America and its allies, been fed by them, re constructed through them, financed by them until they gained their feet. Then this prancing punce ups and is going to deny the legitimate government, elected by over sixty million people,the right to do it’s own will. Tell the slime to pull his head in.

  8. Keep in mind that for someone like Röttgen this is also an opportunity to position himself inside his party.
    So he does this also (even mainly ?) for his own audience.

  9. Maybe he wants to become the next foreign-minister, now that Steinmeier is going for german presidency.

  10. Don’t take Mr. Röttgen too seriously.

    Merkel had already sacked him in 2012 – back then as Federal Minister for the Environment – after he had completely f[oul]ed up an election campaign in Northrine Westfalia. So his political career was already over.

    He has made a certain Comeback since then due to lack of skilled personnel within the CDU, but I am not sure how far this can go further.

    Anyway it sounds pretty stupid and arrogant (he is the schoolmaster type) what he says.
    Even as a native Speaker, I will have to watch it a second (or even third) time to find out what he actually means.

  11. The arrogance of this swine! Hes a nazi, straight out of 1939, look at his smug little face, just who the hell does this facist anti white racist think he is??

    This is the gestapo, he just needs the SS emblem on his armband.

    Cdu??? These aint no christians, just like antifa are the real facists.

    Its time we swept cdu, merkel, and this swine rottgen away into the sewers where they crawled from.
    This filthy, disgusting german cdu [epithet], off with you swine.
    Trump is going to sweep away the german commie marxists very soon.
    The jail cells, and [a just punishment] are waiting for you rottgen. Are you getting scared?

  12. Dear sir.
    Stay out. If you are on the way, turn around. If you are already here. Get out.
    Your country is swirling around the drain and you are coming here to make sure we join you. We are fighting for our country. I would recommend that you return home on the earliest available flight and do the same for your country. You could begin by resigning.

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