What follows is an extract from the Historical Background section of Lebensborn, the second book in The Addlestone Chronicles trilogy:
“Joachim von Ribbentrop is mentioned on several occasions in Addlestone and Lebensborn. He was a sycophantic supporter of Hitler, who advised him on foreign affairs. His only credential for his job as a diplomat, apart from his outspoken and total loyalty to Hitler, was that he had traveled abroad as a wine exporter in the 1920s.
Joseph Göbbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945, said in his diary, ‘Von Ribbentrop bought his name, he married his money, and he swindled his way into office.’
In August 1936, he was appointed Ambassador to the British Court of St. James with instructions to negotiate an Anglo-German alliance. Obviously, he was not successful in his mission. In February 1938, he became German Foreign Minister, a post he retained until the end of the war.
In June 1945, he was arrested and charged with being instrumental in starting WWII and enabling the Holocaust. He was found guilty at the Nuremberg trials and, on October 16, 1946, became the trial’s first defendant to be hanged.”
Adolf Hitler, much like the former US president, seemed to believe in nepotism, cronyism, and fealty rather than relying on expertise and experience as the proper way to make political and judicial appointments.
Trump said in 2018, “I’ll only hire the best people,” and yet 40 of the 44 cabinet appointments have refused to endorse him for a second term. Speaks volumes.
You can judge for yourselves whether Trump’s picks for his new cabinet meet the standard of ‘only the best people.’