did der drumpfenfuhrer's grandfather speak english when he came to this country?

[niyad]

[Pachamama]

1. Likely not at all...

[SweetieD]

2. Did Trump's mother?

Yes she was from Scotland but she was from a poor family and country place where the primary language was Gaelic. Back in the early 1900s it is possible that even if she spoke English in addition to gaelic that she would may have had limited understanding of the language.

[niyad]

3. thank you. I was going to add that.

[csziggy]

6. Apparently she was a good student

"She was raised in a Scottish Gaelic-speaking household with her second language being English, which she learned at Tong school where it was reported she was a star pupil."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Anne_MacLeod_Trump

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trumps-immigrant-mother

[nolabear]

4. Don't know but his story is as opportunistic as 45's.

He actually immigrated twice, interestingly deciding to return to Germany two months after he was too old to go into the military. Finding himself ostracized for it, he returned to the US (here in Seattle eventually) where he opened a restaurant/hotel/whorehouse. He built on land he didn't own, he cheated employees, he skirted legalities and adopted whatever morals made him money.

Googling him is quite an education in the most grasping, exploitative, sleazy side of American history. Tree, meet apple.

[niyad]

7. I remember KO reading the letter that gramps wrote begging to be allowed to return home.

[Eugene]

5. No, he didn't.

Under Trump’s new immigration rule, his own grandfather likely wouldn’t have gotten in (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/03/under-trumps-new-immigration-rule-his-own-grandfather-likely-wouldnt-have-gotten-in/

[niyad]

8. thank you for that link.

[niyad]

10. excellent question

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Another component of the "I've got mine, so screw you" philosophy

[niyad]

12. sadly, you are quite correct.