The Tragedy of Merkelism in a Time of Trump and Putin
Germany’s long-time chancellor, Angela Merkel, just presented her memoirs. They provide more reasons why nobody should stay in office too long.
I’m not here to explain myself.
Photographer: Michael Kappeler/Getty Images
For most of Angela Merkel’s 16 years as German chancellor it was my job as a journalist to observe and analyze her. And although I often disagreed with her policies, I can’t deny that her style of governing impressed me, especially once she became an antithesis and foil to wrecking-ball leaders such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin or America’s Donald Trump.
Unlike those strongmen, she was “the opposite of bombast”: low on vanity and intellectually honest. More generally, she was “post-heroic”: bent on neither conquering (Putin) nor dominating, polarizing and self-aggrandizing (Trump), but on “holding things together,” whether the thing was Germany, the European Union, the West or even the world. If ever a politician of a large country belied Lord Acton’s dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, it was Merkel.