I’m shocked to hear that European bureaucrats are behaving unprofessionally towards President Donald Trump.
Luxembourg is among Europe’s smaller nations but that is not stopping its leaders from speaking their minds about recent events in the US.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday cancelled a trip to Europe at the last minute after top diplomats and European Union officials refused to meet with him, and Luxembourg’s foreign minister appeared to be leading the charge in this regard, per Reuters. Allies were reportedly too “embarrassed” to meet with America’s top diplomat.
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn had skewered President Donald Trump over the riot at the US Capitol in an interview on January 7, making it clear that any visit from Pompeo could prove awkward.
“Trump is a criminal, a political pyromaniac who should be sent to criminal court. He’s a person who was elected democratically but who isn’t interested in democracy in the slightest,” Asselborn said in the interview with RTL Radio, per France 24 reporter Philip Crowther. “The 6th of January 2021 was a 9/11 attack on democracy itself, and Trump was the one who egged it on.”
“The people who are truly responsible are Trump and members of the GOP. People like Ted Cruz and other elected Republicans are responsible because they acted like Trump’s poodles,” Asselborn added.
A 9/11 attack on democracy itself, he says.
Bold statement.
But I do not think it is inaccurate, frankly. As long as we are speaking metaphorically, because there wasn’t actually any violence on 1/6. But in terms of the damage done to the core concept of democracy – yeah, I think the metaphor holds up.
People are sick of this system. They are tired of this endless abuse. They are tired of having absolutely zero recourse. And some people, probably, are not going to be willing to take it anymore.
No other political system has been capable of enabling these levels of abuse and dehumanization, and I just don’t see how they can keep treating us like this indefinitely.
That creates a problem for these overlords of democracy.