Der Spiegel editorial urges Europe to form an 'alliance' to stand up to 'America's dangerous president'

Der Spiegel magazine wants Europe to stand up to the U.S.

(Image credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 6 February 2017

German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel rallied Europe to form an "alliance" against President Trump in its latest editorial published online Sunday. The magazine, which recently featured on its cover an image of Trump holding a knife in one hand and the decapitated head of Lady Liberty in the other, argued in the editorial that it's "absolutely necessary" for Germany to take the lead on addressing this "threat." "This does not mean escalation or that we must abandon our contacts with America and all the working groups between our governments," the editorial reads. "What is does mean, though, is that Europe must grow stronger and start planning its political and economic defenses."

Der Spiegel admitted the job wouldn't be an easy one for Germany, because "it is from the Americans that we obtained our liberal democracy"; because of Trump's chief strategist, "fire-starter Stephen Bannon"; and because of the unpredictability of how the "brute and choleric man on the other side will react to diplomatic pressure":

It is literally painful to write this sentence, but the president of the United States is a pathological liar. The president of the U.S. is a racist (it also hurts to write this). He is attempting a coup from the top; he wants to establish an illiberal democracy, or worse; he wants to undermine the balance of power. He fired an acting attorney general who held a differing opinion from his own and accused her of "betrayal." This is the vocabulary used by Nero, the emperor and destroyer of Rome. It is the way tyrants think. [Der Spiegel]

Alas, the editorial contended, this is "not a threat that will somehow resolve itself." "It is high time that we stand up for what is important: democracy, freedom, the West, and its alliances."