, Columnist
Laschet Should Let Soeder Succeed Merkel As Chancellor
By surrendering his feckless candidacy, the CDU leader would help his party, his country — and probably even his own career.
Armin Laschet, welterweight.
Photographer: Armando Babani/AFP via Getty Images
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It’s late but not too late. Armin Laschet should face reality and — with barely more than a month before Germans elect their next parliament — step aside as the center-right candidate for the office of chancellor.
He should accept that neither Germans nor his own conservatives want him as their national leader — and make way for a more skilled politician. That alternative is Laschet’s notoriously sly frenemy, the premier of Bavaria, Markus Soeder.