Published: 15 November 2016
Last updated: 4 March 2024
So now the challenge is in plain view: we face the globalisation of anti-globalisation, a popular front of populists, an International of nationalists. We must defeat them. The phrase ‘leader of the free world’ is usually applied to the president of the United States, and rarely without irony. I’m tempted to say that the leader of the free world is now Angela Merkel.
And see:
The good news: Trump may have lied through his teeth in the campaign - Chemi Shalev – Haaretz 13.11.16
The president-elect’s reneging on previous promises won’t bother voters who supported him as much as GOP lawmakers who didn’t. Less than five days have gone by and some of Trump’s main campaign pledges already seem to be on their way to the dustbin of history. One analyst predicted the cabinet will be relatively mainstream but the White House staff will be more like ‘the bar in Star Wars.’
Trump’s victory leaves Merkel one of the few sane leaders left – Ofer Aderet – Haaretz 10.11.16
After learning the US election result, Merkel faced the cameras with an expression more appropriate for the Ninth of Av (a Jewish day of mourning) than the Ninth of November. With Trump to the west and Putin to the east, the German chancellor is feeling alone, both on the Continent and around the world.
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