It's to insinuate that the USA wants to "empower" their most distrusted and disliked rightist party, one that 87 of Germans plus their present neighbors (except Poland) see as the current successor to the regime so many died to destroy 73 years ago.

This is worse than the equivalent to a German ambassador to the USA saying he wants to help empower the Black Panthers. This will make headlines like you won't believe.

he wants to help empower the Black Panthers, unless you are a racist. More like the equivalent of to a German ambassador to the USA saying he wants to help empower the KKK. The Black Panthers were not fascists, they were fighting for social justice. They openly carried guns to protect themselves from the police. Now we know why.

It could have been any of them. It didn't have to be a fascist group. Ironically, the Panthers openly carried guns decades before the widespread slaughter by white cops became so widespread.

The fact remains that it was a gross interfering in the internal affairs of the host country. Black,white, green or yellow or candy cane striped, an ambassador does NOT do that kind of thing. Germany has every right to expel this clown starting yesterday.

It just didn't make the news, and there was no video proof to send out world-wide to expose it.

I have posted this before, but here is what "Nazi" means and where it comes from:

"Nazi" is just an oral abbreviation of "National" in German for their "National Socialist" movement.

"National" in German (spelled the same way as in English) is pronounced "Nah-tsee-oh-nahl"

Since the "z" in German is always pronounced like a "ts" on its own, and the "t" is mostly only pronounced that way when used in French words, the written abbreviation for the Nationalists ("Nationalisten= Nah-tsee-oh-nahl-iss-ten)" in German would have been Nazi and not "Nati." Nazi IS "nationalist." Just like their abbreviation for Socialist ("Sozialist" ) is "Sozi (ZOH-tsee)."

The Nazis at least IMAGINED themselves as patriots. The Trump people are only out for money, and are playing on the fears of people for whom they intend to do NOTHING (e.g. coal miners). Hitler actually DID build the autobahn, because in his mania, he really did think "Germany first." To Trump, "America first" is nothing other than a slogan he hopes people will swallow while he and his pals loot the place dry.

apologia for the real Nazis. I feel certain you don't mean it that way, but I have to confess to being just a little discomfited by how cheerily Hitler and the Nazis are described.

The term describes one specific political cult, and adopting the term to mean "anyone we don't like" is the mirror image of the extremist right calling everyone they don't like "libbruls" and "Soshalists," terms of which they have no grasp. I live in Germany. The government here takes great pains to educate their children as to who the Nazis were, what they did, and what they were about. We, on the other hand, say "Soup-Nazi" or "Grammar-Nazi" the same way Republicans use the term "liberal," and we are all diluting the impact of just what such term means to those who knew and lived through the real thing.

My wife just took her mom back to her home in the north of Germany, and even though I have heard the stories before, while she was here, I let her tell them again what it meant to live through the National Socialists, the "NAH-tsee-oh-nahl-zo-tsee-ah-list-en," because we can't be reminded often enough by the ones who survived them (or didn't, as with three of her brothers). If the distinction is not made, it is lost. Hitler's band believed in their cult, and were willing to do anything to bring their country to their way of thinking. Republican rank and file believe their cult, but their leaders do not. That is a vital distinction. Republican leaders will desert their ship before it sinks. Cheney didn't take cyanide when the truth about Halliburton was vulnerable to coming to light. He just moved the whole thing to Dubai. They will leave a lot of disillusioned followers behind. There will be anger and resentment looking for an outlet, and that outlet won't be the guilty Republican leaders. They will be nowhere to be found, so the guilty ones will be us. The Nazis had brainwashed themselves into thinking their ship could never sink. So when it did, we could step in and show their people a new way, which West Germany embraced. The Soviets did the same with their part of Germany, but since their way was reminiscent of what went before, their citizens either risked their lives to flee, or sank into resignation. I visited East Berlin when it was still that. The goose-stepping soldiers may have had new helmets and called themselves socialist, but all one had to do was pull out some film archives for a direct comparison.

We let Trump and his Republican string-pullers off the hook by calling them Nazis all the time. They worship wealth, not the nation. 'Tis a baser purpose they serve.

IS fascism. Whether we call the perpetrators nazis or just fascists, it really matters not that much. Yes, some "Nazi" usage is too loose, and that becomes problematic. But fascism is rising daily here, nor am I the first to notice.

So I vehemently disagree with you here: We let Trump and his Republican string-pullers off the hook by calling them Nazis all the time.

When I say they act like Nazis I mean that they use the very same tactics that were used by the fascist jackbooted thugs.

That's exactly the kind of corrective slap we need a few times by our allies to help tame this fool.

Of course, tRump might act in-character and retaliate with something even more crazy.

That would be a clear signal (at least to every Secretary of State we have had until 2017) to pull the guy and send a replacement. But that is an extreme step, and one that often leads to a tit-for-tat retaliation, and the Trumpadors don't have anyone really offensive in the German diplomatic delegation in Washington they can point to. But the U.S. Secretary of State is supposed to be our country's top diplomat. They are SUPPOSED to be sensitive of instances like this, and pull offensive boors before they get a second chance to prove themselves. Although--I could tell you a few horror stories about the clown Cheneybush sent to Paris to be US ambassador to France during the first Cheney-Bush term. All this stuff is starting to hit a little close to home, in case it wasn't obvious already.

You see, in most sane countries, a plum assignment in the foreign ministry is normally the result of a career demonstrating diplomatic skills. In Trumpland, a plum diplomatic assignment appears to be a reward for money and brash behavior. A friend of mine got to be the Canadian Ambassador to the USA after half a lifetime of proving himself at many and varied other postings. He is still the finest foreign service officer I have met from ANY country. If it weren't for the fact that he'll never lose his French accent, I'd have kidnapped him long ago until he agreed to work for us.

Trump's diplomatic appointments follow his pattern of forced disruption and shock effect, and installing people with very poor qualifications. This will all surely backfire both nationally and internationally because he's not just trading real estate properties here. However, as you know a lot of damage is being done to people and the environment.

Republicans seem to have a history with diplomatic appointments of either sending someone they want to reward (donors/campaign officials) or someone they want to hide, LOL.

You've probably seen the Spiegel.de article on him, but this line rather shook me, as I despise Bolton:

But over beers with a friend in Madrid last night, Grennell’s comments were causing concern in Spain as well.

I'm in Germany today, have to run down to Madrid tomorrow!

I’ll be in Berlin and Frankfurt for three weeks, job hunting and trying to talk to anyone who’ll answer about how to get a visa...
Safe travels!

A visa for work these days is not an easy task. Kudos if you land one. Mine was made easier by the fact that I am married to a German citizen, had a job and proved I wasn't interested in another one, and already spoke their language fluently. It wouldn't have a fun task without that as a head start. My daughter who lives in Frankfurt always kept her dual nationalities current, and so was able to move back here after ten years in the USA because she is a German citizen in good standing.

But you might get lucky. Keep trying! Who knows, maybe you'll find you like one of the friendly natives and end up married here. Stranger things have happened, after all.......

Go to Germany and praise the Nazi party.

Trump's "ambassador" had made some ugly, derogatory comments about the Netherlands while he was in Congress. Then, when a Dutch journalist confronted him about what he had said earlier, he claimed he had never said any of it, and was royally pissed the the Dutch press was waiting for him to claim that, and immediately pulled out the videos of him saying verbatim what they claimed he had said.

Our ambassador to the Netherlands has all the credibility of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, shouting, "that's not me, I'm in Kansas City (or wherever is far away)!"

To the people here, that sound a LOT more ominous. That crosses the line from stupid to dangerous.

tRump once again "hiring the best people" He does not have a clue as to what he is doing. Someone is pulling the stings backstage.

For decades, Trump has been looking for little more than people who will help him in two goals: have fun, and get him out of debt free. As far as a political agenda goes, this is far too sophisticated for the likes of him. Someone else, indeed, is pulling the strings. A few "someones" coordinating (or trying to, anyway), actually.

it is absolutely, 100%, not the role of an ambassador to attempt to alter the course of internal politics of another country. This is the sort of fundamental misunderstanding that occurs, when "friends" and funders are rewarded with positions that they do not understand, by a president who does not understand anything

was made ambassador to the Court of St. James ? His behavior so outraged the Brits that FDR recalled him in short order, after apologizing profusely. Kennedy never got over that. One reason why he was so determined to have one of his sons elected president. Supposed to be Joe Jr., but he died in a plane mishap with an experimental aircraft. So he propped up Jack, who never wanted to be president.

Is NOT your job, Grenell. I suggest you re-read your job description.

And you obviously know very little about the political landscape in Germany. One does NOT go there and start espousing right wing ideology. Merkel's government should send you packing in short order for interfering in their stability.

Looks like trmp is taking pages from Putin's playbook. This will not end well.

In the days of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union's ambassadors to its colonies in Eastern Europe helped "empower socialism," which meant nothing more than keeping a tight fist on their satellite states. No Western European country will stand for the USA "empowering" ANYBODY with their political system. Anyone claiming to be so "empowered" can legitimately be seen to be an agent of a hostile foreign power. We may not overtly make hostile moves, but claiming a desire to "empower" far right movements in Germany (of all places!) is about as hostile as the USA can get without bombing Hamburg again.

publicly humiliates him and sends him packing persona non grata. Someone needs to teach Trump some manners, since his parents obviously did not.

Lead story everywhere.

Comments from "unhelpful" to cries for his immediate expulsion.