Meanwhile, the man most likely to succeed him, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz, avoided such hyperbole but struck a more painful blow. With Germany’s entire political and business class in a state of despair over the U.S. election result, Merz said President-elect Donald Trump might vaguely remember Scholz, before adding: “Don’t think you have any authority to talk to this new president. He will drop you like a lightweight.”
Overall, it appears German politics is acquiring a new bitterness as it enters one of its most critical moments. And everyone is busy accusing everyone else of letting the country down.
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel is blamed for Germany’s energy dependency on Russia and a failure to reform the economy. Lindner, whose spectacular sacking precipitated this latest drama, is accused of undermining the government. The Greens are rounded upon for focusing on climate change over economic livelihoods. And the CDU is seen as opportunistic, while Merz is regarded as abrasive. Then, of course, come the two extreme parties and the dangers they pose to liberal democracy.
But, of course, one man has failed above all others — and that is Scholz. The Besserwisser (the know-it-all), the man lacking both human empathy and political courage, the man who saw his role not as team captain but as referee, constantly niggling with the other two parties in his “traffic light” coalition rather than leading them.
Therefore, it might seem bewildering that Scholz, the man with the lowest popularity ratings, will remain the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) candidate for chancellor, especially when it could have gone for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who happens to be the most popular. But both he and the party buckled.
At least Scholz acted decisively in calling time on the coalition. Yet, even in this one act, he didn’t quite fully engage. Instead, he tried to buy time and delay the confidence vote to January, so the election wouldn’t take place until the end of March. And though he was eventually humbled on that front and forced to bring it forward by other parties, even the agreed date of Feb. 23 doesn’t quite suggest the urgency required, as Trump will be a good month into his rampage by then.
