Who won in Merkel-Trump G-7 Photo? (Reader Poll)
“An unstoppable force meets an immovable object”
The featured image photo above was released by the Office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
By releasing the photo, Merkel signaled that she viewed it as portraying her favorably. She was standing above Trump, with most of the other G-7 nations having her back visually (other than Japanese Prime Minister Abe).
If the NY Times put the photo on its front page, you know the Editors thought it made Trump look bad:
[Image via Chris Cillizza Twitter]
That’s pretty much the reading the mainstream media and anti-Trump social media is giving the photo. That the photo shows the U.S. isolated even among its allies, that Trump looks weak, and that we need to defer to Germany and other allies on trade and security issues. It also is another occasion for the fevered swamps of Russia-collusion theories to accuse Trump of being Putin’s puppet in splitting the West.
This is clearly one of those Rorschach Test-type photos, so people can read into it what they want.
But I think the anti-Trump reading of the photo ignores what happened in 2016. Is Trump standing up to foreign leaders to pursue what he views as a pro-American position really a negative? Trump supporters, and I think a lot of independents, will view this photo much more favorably.
I think Seth Mandel had it right:
… if anyone thinks this Steffen Seibert photo is going to hurt Trump with voters I really don’t think you’ve been paying attention
“The Germans and French are angry with Trump, so vote Democrat” is… well let me just say, I wouldn’t advise Dems to run with this one
So who won in this photo?
Poll Open Until Midnight (Pacific Time) On Monday Night, June 11
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
German propaganda, again. I like the body language telling Merkel to “F-off, Clown!”. 🙂
Merkel get that top/jacket (whatever the hell it is) at Hillary’s garage sale? Fraulein be stylin’ 😉
It’s like she picked Dr. Evil as a fashion advisor.
I like Abe’s look best 🙂
Hilarious seeing Mutter Merkel trying to intimidate President Trump. She wants to be the leader of the EU, so President Trump just tossed the ball into her court…and she doesn’t seem happy about it.
Apparently there is a new verb in Germany and it is merkel, cause she does nothing.
So being forced publicly to do something “and she doesn’t seem happy about it.” because she’s into merkeling.
http://schnitzelrepublic.blogspot.com/2016/01/defining-merkeling.html
Trump: Angela, where the hell is our sammichs?
Photo taken after Trump said “Next on the agenda is that thing about American Exceptionalism that my predecessor said didn’t exist. Everyone in agreement with me that it is the defining factor in future world events, please stand.”
-Click-
“thank you, you may all be seated.”
There is a photo an instant before or after this one that has a smile on Merkel’s face and Trump has a grin as does Bolton. Selective freeze frame with political motivation.
It’s Merkel’s people that did the selecting.
He’s the king of the court. He’s not engaging with her at all. It looks desperate on the part of Merkel. He’s thinking “You’re FIRED! You’re FIRED! You’re FIRED!” She’s the apprentice looking to live for one more episode.
.
NPR was talking about Trump refusing to sign the accord thanks to comments by Trudeau just hours afterwards. They say this is a sign that you can’t expect Trump to live up to his words and bodes poorly for the NK talks. I see it as him saying that words matter more than a political piece of paper. Trump is not a politician. He’s a business man and deal maker. Trudeau signed a piece of paper but was more concerned about his next election and had to show himself standing up to Trump. Always a bad move. Everyone since late November 2015 who stood up to Trump has LOST BIGLY.
“But, but, we need that money to pay the welfare for the Muslim refugees. Otherwise they’ll rape even more German girls.”
“No”
Continuing….
“But… what about those girls, and… ”
“So what happened to the money you had to cover all this back when you opened the flood gates? Surely you had considered this as a potential result of that decision… ”
And its hard to take one seriously when they wear a jacket like that. It look like something worn by a rocket ship crew member in a 1950s Sci Fi movie.
What they need is backbone to toss all those Muslim losers out of Europe. It doesn’t look like they have any.
Trump has the EU over a barrel. The EU knows that the tariffs imposed on US goods partially funds EU’s socialism. Now Trump is forcing them to admit that to the world at large.
Yeppers….it is a question of who needs who more. Does the US need the EU more than the EU needs the US. Welcome to negotiations.
EU and globalists can pack sand. I love it.
“Pound sand…” is the original and correct version I think.
Let’s stay with packing….as in making sand bags which will not stop the tide of Islamic transformation of the EU into Eurabia. Imagine how much better the U.S. Position in the world would have been if a serious business, rather than patchwork political, approach had been used in decades past.
I see Merkel being a nag, Trump having none of it, and Abe blocking that old commie from sneaking around the side to stab Trump in the back.
Merkel’s office probably released it to show that she’s the only one who can get away with wearing something other than a dark blue suit. Daring. Edgy. A leader, at least in fashion if nothing else.
The photo would be even better if Trump was looking at his watch, wondering when he can leave this dull party. He has work to do elsewhere … while to those Euro provincials, there is no “elsewhere”. The Times would totally plotz.
Because doing what the Europeans (and wimpy Americans) told us was good worked out so well in the last century.
Maybe if we lay down and beg, we can allow them to charge us to station our soldiers there to protect them for a few more decades.
I might suggest that since the photo is the thing to discuss, the elite media is in a panic that Trump walked away from the G7 table without caring about the opinion of elites….and that the progressive wish-list from this meeting has just been trumped with an America First approach.
As a delightful bonus, there is now a presidential request for a formal trade inquiry. Trump recently instructed the commerce secretary to review imports of cars, trucks & parts “for effects on national security.”“Core industries such as automobiles & automotive parts are critical to our strength as a nation” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/business/trump-tariffs-foreign-autos.html
I am thinking he is going to target the foreign builders using car-part and assembly point facilities in Mexico and Canada to get out of the tariffs thanks to NAFTA. Trudeau is going to regret he tried to take on Trump as a delightful, extra bonus.
So, the elite media will grab onto the picture to confirm to themselves Trump “lost”….while Trump will continuing winning.
It reminds me of when Reagan walked away from Gorby at Reykjavík.
Abe and Trump both have crossed arms which means they’re not buying anything Merkel is selling.
“Crossed arms hold your feelings in and keep other people’s out. They show that you’ve set up roadblocks beyond which no person dares travel.”
Works for me. Lecturing Trump in a looming position was probably a bad idea anyway.
Trade is not a zero-sum game. No one wins a trade war.
but when one side has always won, and the other side has always lost, the loser can stop playing the game. And the former loser has a whole lot less to lose than the former winner. Which is the old loser has such a good opportunity to get a better deal in the future, after inflicting some pain in the present.
“Trade is not a zero-sum game. No one wins a trade war.”
This is total BS. A trade war is just like any other war. Trade wars almost always arise in an effort to rectify trade imbalances between countries, which one or more partners refuse to change. If the trade imbalance is rectified, then one party “wins” the war. In the long run, both win, as trade, between countries, becomes more equal.
As to trade being a zero-sum game, to some extent it is. Technical innovation can make production of commodities cheaper, which increases the percentage of the market for those commodities able to purchase them, which increases trade value. Until the amount of true value in the world increases, trade is pretty much moving the exiting value around.
Following WWII, the US got rich by producing most of the goods that the rest of the world needed. To allow those foreign entities to purchase US goods, the US government and financial institutions poured trillions of dollars into foreign business development. As foreign economies grew, that loaned money was returned to the US through increased purchasing power abroad. However, in the 1970s, the world economy hit a balancing point. Foreign economies were now able to compete with US production. The first thing these foreign nations did was to impose tariffs on US goods. The US government went along with this, except in a few cases, because the US financial, now the Global financial, community was in control of politics in the US. US manufacturers lost market share abroad. Then they began to lose significant market share at home. This resulted in an absolutely horrendous negative trade imbalance for the US. This was compounded by such ridiculous trade agreements as NAFTA. The financials continued to get rich, while the manufacturing sector and businesses which directly supported the manufacturing sector lost value. One sector of the US economy actually stabbed the other in the back. And, the government went along with it. That has now changed.
Zach: “no one wins”
I’m glad you agree. You got a gun pointed at me. And I have a gun pointed at you. I don’t like your 270% tarriff on milk.
Are you prepared to die over it? Because I am.
So, we can either shoot each other, or we can put down our guns and work out a new arrangement. Your call.
Fen: You got a gun pointed at me. And I have a gun pointed at you. I don’t like your 270% tarriff on milk.
Guess not much has changed since the war between Lilliput and Blefuscu.
Small-endian eggs forever! Death to the large-endians!
It’s getting harder to parody the real world every day.
Trump is intimidated not at all, and the expression on Abe’s face is priceless.
I see the POTUS I voted for, and a some other world leaders I didn’t vote for.
I don’t care what THEY think.
Amen, brother 🙂
I was and still am a Cruz fan. But I firmly believe Trump has demonstrated that he is the leader we need right now.
It seems Marcon is addressing Trump; adding emphasis to Marcon’s comments is Merkel, staring Trump down in an effort to distract/intimidate him. Trump looks focused yet relaxed; her empty posturing obviously isn’t working.
Metaphorically speaking Trump is standing his ground, confidently; given the outcome of the G7 meetings this photo conveys Merkel’s (and Marcon’s) general weakness while emphasizing Trump’s confidence/strength.
Trump isn’t looking at Merkel; he is focusing on Marcon.
i believe it is supposed to be spelled “Maricon”…
😎
Anyone who has ever had a confrontation where the stakes were high knows that if it is meaningful to you that you would stand up as in combat. Trump shows that not only is he not concerned with their diatribe but feels no pressure from them. His chin is up and his arms are crossed showing that they are below his thought process and might as well leave.
“Why is there no Ladies Restroom here???”
They knew obama wasn’t coming.
Bolton, Trump, and Abe are all focused on Macron. He must be speaking, and they are listening. Merkel looks desperate, almost with a “Listen to him, please!” expression on her face.
Both Abe and Trump are in agreement, apparently.
So, lose-lose for EU and the attempt to intimidate, cajole, or otherwise penetrate Trump’s resolve.
On to the U.S.-NoKo Summit!
Let’s talk about the losers that are not in the photo.
I am thinking Obama and others before him. They all bowed down and put globalist interests above those of the American working class. In this picture I see, among other things, a gigantic “up yours”.
The old commie hag is tired and leaning on the table because her back hurts.
Merkel admitted that the G7 talks were all about globalism v nationalism. But, this is not really accurate. See, the nations of Europe have been trying to forge a Republic out of the independent states of Europe. The EU was, and possibly still is, slated to become the United States of Europe, a single nation dominated by Germany. In the meantime, its interests, largely dominated by Germany [again], acts in its best interests at the expense of outside nations. It is just an example of European nationalism.
In this case, what Trump is doing is clearly establishing the fact that the US is an independent nation that is the equal of the EU, in terms of trade. And, as even after all the EU bluster, Trump did not cave to Merkel’s EU, I guess he won that round.
Mean while in the real world Trump is about to meet with Whoa Fat from North Korea to do some of the “what a real world leader does shit”. You know, potentially ushering in an unprecedented era of peace on the Korean peninsula.
Let the left have a meaningless photo that will not change history no matter how much they want it to.
My first thought when I saw this was it should be captioned “Rebellious students stand before the principal’s desk”
Looks like a laughable staring contest for all, but if you want to take it serious. Trump clearly looks more relaxed and in control, while the hovering vultures above the table look flustered.
So what is the message this delivers to Rocket Man as the NoKo discussions begin? Beautiful setup I think.
What a wonderful change from the sellout behavior we have experienced over the past several decades from the Dems and the GOPe.
Come on guys. This is a legal blog so I’m sure you recall the adage:
“: If you have the law on your side, argue the law; if you have the facts, argue the facts; if you have neither, pound the table”
Merkel is literally and figuratively pounding the table. Both in the picture and in releasing it under the impression it makes her appear to be “winning”
But its just a stunt. And she truly was in a stronger position, if she had all the cards, she wouldn’t need to pretend, to showboat like this.
Her EU office and the US media think this is some kind of sick burn. They are like a bunch of Mean Girls fronting how bad ass they are because they just slammed the new kid over some frivolous fashion faux pas. But they’re about to get sulfuric acid thrown in their pretty little faces.
I’d say Merkel won – the best G7 Silverback Gorilla Posturing Award.
Did moooochelle get an honorable mention?
And they cut JT out of the picture who was standing with his fake eyebrows (and potentially fake hair) next to Trump.
I think the Democrats should go with the angle that impeach/vote against Trump as Trump is prefering the US interests over Germany and France. Maybe Hillary can slur that message on stage drunk right before she says “vote for me in 2020 it is really my turn now and you owe it to me” and then she has another seizure.
WTF WAS WITH TRUDEAU WEARING FAKE EYEBROWS????????????????
The MSM is focused on the eyebrows, but the real question is: Did he also have a sock in his jock?
that’s not even remotely a question.
xe’s a Soy Boi
And amoung Trump voters, Merkel is known as the Communist Hag who turned Germany over to Muslim Rape Gangs and surrendered Europe to Jihadi refugees.
So Trump’s crossed arms are sending the message the elected him to send. Obama would have been bent over the table with everyone waiting their turn to screw America.
President Trump wins, of course. He’s the only grown up in the room.
To be fair, Abe and The Mustache aren’t having any of the Euroweenie crap sandwich either
I love this picture. Even the un-cropped one with Justin from Canada standing behind Trump. The look on Abe’s face… the slight smile of Trumps’… as if he’s in the moment and yet is floating above the din… he has bigger things to do… he is making bi-lateral deals on his own. Abe, soon, Italy… and soon…. Putin.
The globalists have a problem. And it’s going to get worse for them. Their machine is unraveling in real time.
Call me old fashioned, but standing up is a sign of respect. Standing up for a woman is doubly so. Trump not standing is a double-dis in my book. Merkel leaning over the table like that paints her desperate and domineering (trying at least). Interesting too her hands are flat on the table – if she really wanted to send the message of power / threat, she should have leaned on her fists.
When someone is trying to intimidate you, the best reaction is one of complete disdain. Never allow the bully to think they have any power over you.
Don’t think Trump is too worried about anybody’s perception.
He’s got US. That’s all he needs.
“Call me old fashioned, but standing up is a sign of respect. Standing up for a woman is doubly so. Trump not standing is a double-dis in my book.”
You are old fashioned.
When men protected women as the “weaker sex”, men respected women more than they do now. Merkel sees herself as equal to, or greater than Trump. She doesn’t deserve respect as a woman because she claims equality. I’ve observed first hand women who demand more than they deserved, based on equality, but demanded assistance when they were weak and incapable because they are women, and “men should help and respect” women.
Guess my meaning wasn’t clear to get 5 down votes. To clarify, I should have said:
“Trump not standing is a double-dis in my book. AND deservedly so.”
There’s something seriously wrong with Murkel. I wonder with all the trouble she’s caused for Germany with unchecked immigration if she ever whines “Did I do that?!?”
The biggest loser is the NY Times with the left side (no pun) headline, “In Trump Administration, Science is Unwelcome. So is Advice.”
This, from an editorial cabal which lectures us that cross dressing men are actually women with a pen!s; global warming is true, scary, and manageable in a purely unguided, purposeless universe where the only constant is extinction; and every week is published a new hair-on-fire medical warning about salt, soda, coffee, meat, indoor air, synthetic fabrics, etc., until our neurotic society assumes that everything will kill us… because California says so.
Who even pays attention to that rag besides the indoctrinated and GOPe idiots?
but you repeat yourself…
😎
GOPe idiots know better – they’re just corrupt.
Standing around the King (who is seated.)
Trump is a manifestation of the continuing evolution of American genius: while the likes of obama and clinton and represent what the Founding Fathers feared the worst, Donald Trump is what they hoped for most.
This is just great.
(As for the ny slimes: who cares?)
Trump’s expression is bemused. Merkel’s is vacant. ‘Nuff said.
different angles, different impressions (none of them good for teh narrative):
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-10/viral-g-7-photo-seen-other-side
This reminds me of when Col. klink is leaning over his desk berating hogan for some hijink committed by the inmates and we all know that Hogan will walk out having put klink in his place.
Merkel was an East German Communist apparatchik. And the attitude necessary to be one shines through to this day.
Is DJT looking past Merkel to the man on DJT’s right?
Can you guess which photo the BBC chose to run with for their articles on the meeting?
Another Fred and Ethel Mertz moment captured for posterity
I think German media would like this to look like Merkel trying exasperatedly to work with the US and getting no quarter. In reality, it’s not hard to picture Merkel wielding a cudgel.
Both President Trump and Abe’s facial expressions look like they are saying, “Nope, try again. FU, Next Topic.”
Some pretty funny comments Thanks for the laffs.