Merkel to Macron: We've Got This

Germany wants good relations with both Russia and the English-speaking world, but it can't really trust either, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Such admissions don't advance her re-election campaign as some claim, but her aim is much broader than that anyhow.

Merkel's remarks that "the time when we could fully rely on others is pretty much gone" and that "Europeans must take their destiny into their own hands" came after President Donald Trump's disastrous European trip. While on the contitent, Trump failed to affirm the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's mutual defense pledge or U.S. participation in the Paris climate change agreement. He also called Germany "very bad" for selling "millions" of cars in the U.S. (which is, incidentally, false). But the domestic context in which these remarks were made is also important.