We are NOT Your Museum!Recently, the Trump Administration released the new “National Security Strategy” paper for the USA. This document is horrific in quite a few different ways, but I want to focus on how it treats Europe.They want to “restore Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity” (p. 9)They want to “Promote European Greatness” (p 29) by supporting “unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history.” Furthermore, “America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.” (p. 30)Furthermore, they claim that “this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure”, including “loss of national identities and self-confidence”, and that “should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less.” (pp. 29)Considering who wrote this, and what the actual policies of the Trump Administration have been since Trump has returned to office, the implication is fairly clear: They want Europe to revert to a fantasized past when “Mighty Whitey” strode across the world like a colossus, oppressing or slaying brown people as he pleased. European nations should abandon the project of European unification and instead revert to white ethnostates.To which I say: NO!We will NOT change who we are to appease a hostile foreign power – for that is what the USA is now, as they have made clear! We will NOT pretend to be a kitschy theme park to fit the notion of some American bigots what “the Old Country” should be like! We will NOT remain in stasis! We are NOT your museum!I care about German history and culture – deeply so, and with a passion that would have surprised my younger self. And I am more than happy to share my knowledge and my appreciation with the world – which is one of the reasons I put in so much time and effort into translating German folk tales. But this is why I am appalled by such efforts seeking to destroy them – again.How German history and culture are preserved and honored will be decided here, by Germans – “Germans” as defined by the German Constitution, not “Germans” as the Nazis defined it. We Germans – regardless of ethnicity – have a stake in the future of Germany, while the Trump Administration has not. Trump’s ancestor might have left Germany because he wanted to dodge military draft, but his descendant has no claim upon us. He and his followers have no true curiosity about German history and culture – a far cry from the many immigrants to Germany I have met over the years. They get a place at the table to determine Germany’s future, but Trump will not. And together we will try to build new ways of honoring our country, our history, and our culture, free of the racism and sexism and antisemitism and other bigotries of the past.Of course, there are Germans who will disagree with me. And many of them are traitors to our country, who are just as willing to kiss MAGA ass as they are to lick Putin’s boots – selling Germany’s future for their thirty pieces of silver. But history will judge them just as history has judged the Third Reich.#Germany #NationalSecurityStrategy #Trump #USA #USPolitics
