Post

Dealing with Trump and his administration in 2026 is NOT like engaging in diplomacy with another global power: it is a LOT like figuring out how to protect your country from frequent attacks by hordes of wild pigs, because wild pigs are both highly destructive and cannot be reasoned with.

Faine Greenwood

@faineg.com

24 Aug

Carney, to his credit, has very much figured this out.

Faine Greenwood

@faineg.com

Miranda Carter wrote an excellent piece comparing Donald Trump to Kaiser Wilhelm a while back, calling them both bad-tempered and distractible doofuses, and unfortunately the comparison gets more apt by the day.

newyorker.comWhat Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire?If international conflict is around the corner, it would seem that you really don’t want a narcissist in control of a global power.

24/8/26, 7:28 pm61 reposts262 likes

Faine Greenwood

@faineg.com

24 Aug

I really liked Miranda Carter’s 2010 The Three Emperors, which made me cringe a lot at the Trump-like behaviors of ol’ Wilhelm. www.theguardian.com/books/2010/a...

Dread Pirate Zed

@dreadpiratezed.bsky.social

26 Aug

bsky.app/profile/drea...

Dread Pirate Zed@dreadpiratezed.bsky.social

I love the "History of the Twentieth Century" podcast; every episode that even _mentioned_ Kaiser Wilhelm II had a little segment where he was awarded the "Kaiser Wilhelm II Prize for X", where X stands for "spectacularly screwing up in some field of endeavor". Long-running gag with MANY payoffs.

Tom Zinnen

@tmzinnen.bsky.social

26 Aug

The German with a mustache or the Austrian with a mustache: so many comparators, so little time.

Dan Seitz

@dseitz.bsky.social

25 Aug

I feel this is very unfair to Kaiser Wilhelm, a man I would unhesitatingly pants if I were given the opportunity.

John

@johnlk.bsky.social

25 Aug

Honestly the comparison is unfair to Wilhelm, if anything.

Reverend Jesus "🎃" Christ

@reverendjesus.com

25 Aug

Ol' Willy at least had that phenomenal mustache

Zachary Shirkey

@zachary-shirkey.bsky.social

25 Aug

I fear this does a disservice to Wilhelm at this point.

Zachary Shirkey

@zachary-shirkey.bsky.social

25 Aug

Wilhelm read diplomatic correspondence and made marginal notations!

haywoodfloyd.bsky.social

@haywoodfloyd.bsky.social

25 Aug

Pretty amazing similarities (although unfair to Wilhelm at this point). One virtue of democracy is that it is supposed to prevent power being awarded to an unqualified idiot son of the right dynasty, but then the moronic marginal voter in the US saw fit to elect the most unqualified idiot son ever.