Throughout modern history, no nation has been so resilient as the German people. Declared "Barbarians" by the Roman Empire, they rose to become the strongest nation in Europe at the turn of the 20th century. During World War I, it took the great powers of Europe - England, France, and Russia - along with the U.S., to defeat Germany. Twenty years later, under Adolf Hitler, they would, once again, become the most powerful nation in Europe. During World War II, it took the combined forces of those same powers - England, France, the USSR, and the U.S. - to conquer Germany again. In 2025, Germany is again the most powerful nation in Europe.
Donald Trump is a lot like Adolf Hitler. He is not a mass murderer, like Hitler was; neither is he warmonger. But, like Hitler, Trump has a unique ability to win over a great nation of people. Hitler wooed the German people with the promise of "greatness" again, after the ruin of their WWI defeat. Trump woos America with the promise of truth.
The American people are genuinely disenchanted with politicians, and the American media - people who lie to them because toeing party and network lines is more important. Trump, in their minds, does not "toe lines"; he draws them. He does not lie to them, he merely exaggerates. With Trump, everything is grandiose - "bigger", "darker", and "more fantastic" - and that is fine with them. Then, he says simple stuff, like "I will build a wall," or "From now on, there will be but two genders in America - male and female." They think, "He means it," and they understand.
Geopolitically, President Trump cares no more about the Ukraine than he cares about Panama, Gaza, or river smelt. And those tariffs: He doesn't appear to levy them out of necessity as much as he levies them out of hubris - because he can; because he wants contrary countries to cry "Uncle!"
And, as for renaming the "Gulf of Mexico" the "Gulf of America", it may be something as simple as China having two international bodies of water named after it - the South China Sea and the East China Sea - while America has none. That's Trump.
For the past 80 years, people have wondered how such a superb society as the Germans could have fallen so completely beneath the spell of a megalomaniac like Hitler. In 2025, the world is asking the same thing about "exceptional" Americans.