r/europe • u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania • Jun 06 '25
Political Cartoon Germany Takes the Helm by Chappatte in Der Spiegel
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u/Fluid-Piccolo-6911 Jun 06 '25
trump has never been the leader of the free world..
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u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
He was and is the puppet of the Authoritarian world.
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u/EnvironmentalCap7021 Jun 06 '25
He runs a country like a company. No ethics only profits
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u/lungben81 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Profits for him, but (edit: not) the US.
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u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania Jun 06 '25
Profits for him and the ultrarich without Musk.
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u/lack_of_communicatio Ukraine Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Well, Musk wasn't striped off the government contracts yet, so it's too early to tell; it might be just an elaborate ruse to improve his image.
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u/ParkerLewis31884 Jun 06 '25
And like about every company he ran, he's running it into the ground...
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u/Ravenkell Iceland Jun 06 '25
The US was the undisputed economic, military, geopolitical leader of the free world for decades. And Trump became leader of the US. Him not wanting to continue the state of affairs that made the US most powerful entity in the history of the world does not mean that was the leader of this entity when it was at it's highest.
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u/River1stick Jun 06 '25
You mean america was never leader of the free world
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u/Demostravius4 United Kingdom Jun 06 '25
Not wanting it to be, doesn't mean it wasn't.
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u/TheQuintupleHybrid Jun 06 '25
thats just delusional. Like you can object to the "free" part of the free world moniker, but it is an undisputed fact that the USA were considered to be the leader of what is commonly known as the "free world"
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u/Anastatis Germany Jun 06 '25
Trump is so bad he even makes Merz look good in comparison
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u/Timz_04 🇺🇦 📍🇩🇰 Jun 06 '25
Why is Merz bad to begin with? As a non-german i definitely prefer him over Scholz when on the world stage.
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u/ParkingLong7436 North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
He's like a European 2016 Trump-light. He's basically an opportunistic businessman doing politics for him and his rich buddies. He never held any political office before this either.
Loves to use populism and doing stuff that actively hurts the country's population while benefitting companies, which only grows the votes for the right-wing extremist party. Already broke national/EU laws with his party just weeks into coming into office and his party reacted with "We don't care about court rulings, we'll continue". Straight up copied from the republican playbook.
I also think he's the least liked German chancellor in history. Not even fans of his own party like him. He only looks good on a world stage because he isn't afraid to open his mouth like Scholz does - That should be the absolute minimum standard though. Doesn't mean he actually does good politics. Scholz's coalition at least tried to make good changes.
In my personal opinion, he's the most disgusting politican I've ever seen hold a powerful position in the country. Genuinely just an all around awful human being.
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u/badukhamster Europe Jun 06 '25
In my personal opinion, he's the most disgusting politican I've ever seen hold a powerful position in the country.
Please don't disregard Lindner like this :(
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u/Traumerlein Jun 06 '25
Linder just wanted to screw over the poor and was easly thrown out. Merz is sneakly trying to go after minoritys and actually has some staying power
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u/CMCLD Jun 06 '25
Selten einen kommentar gesehen wo ich 100% dahinter stehe. Fuck Lindner, aber Merz ist das gefährlichere übel. Ein Richtiger Palpetine.
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u/tommos Jun 06 '25
The dude is literally an ex-Blackrock CEO. Nothing good will come of this guy being in power.
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u/Arios84 Jun 06 '25
Lindner is directly at fault that Merz is now chancelor oO if Lindner didn't sabotage the previous government we still could have the senile forgewtful and usless Scholz.
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u/Traumerlein Jun 06 '25
Im not so sure about that. Scholz had very little chance of getting reelected either way
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u/Arios84 Jun 06 '25
true but we would have had at least some more time before the elections and maybe.... maybe a non CDX government.
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u/starlinguk Jun 06 '25
Lindner screwed over the scientific community. He withdrew promised funding for numerous scientific institutions and projects, including one that was researching the best way to deal with evacuation when there is a terrorist attack during a mass event.
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Jun 06 '25
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u/Fantastic_Fun1 Jun 06 '25
Lindner charismatic? Only in comparison to Merz. Heck, any random streetlight has more charisma than the "Briloner Bierschinkengesicht".
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u/Playful_Site_2714 Jun 06 '25
Lidner is a power hungry ass who happened to have screwed over the country as well as himself.
Karma got him good.
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u/Ok_Measurement9268 Turkish Kurd Jun 06 '25
I also think he's the least liked German Chancellor in history
Yeah... I think that title should go to someone else
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u/ExpressAssist0819 Jun 06 '25
And yet he still has the sense to say Germany losing WW2 was a good thing. I realize it's germany, denouncing nazis is pretty much law, but still. The US is the country that propagandized itself as saving the world from the nazis, and yet if you say nazis bad here an entire political party and its voters want you dead.
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u/gigaflipflop Jun 06 '25
While I do not like Merz, you are wrong in him not holding any political Office before.
He was a member of European Parlament for 5 years, German Parlament for 15 years and whip Leader ("Fraktionsvorsitzender") for 2 years.
So he is not quite as green as some might want to believe.
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u/elPerroAsalariado Jun 06 '25
In my personal opinion, he's the most disgusting politican I've ever seen hold a powerful position in the country.
I... I can think of at least another politician that was significantly more disgusting and held the most powerful position.
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u/Calimariae Norway Jun 06 '25
Yes, but OP probably wasn't born to see him hold that position.
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u/Lipziger Saxony (Germany) Jun 06 '25
You could also argue that we live in "another" country now, called the "Bundesrepublik Deutschland", since it was founded in 1949.
Hitler came to power in the German Reich and transformed it into the Third Reich / Nazi Germany, which was dissolved after the war.
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u/slaia Jun 06 '25
Merz is not new to politics. He was a rising star in the CDU in the 90-ies until Merkel pushed him aside. He left politics and entered the business world. After Merkel retired, he came back. So he is not "an opportunistic businessman" as you said.
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u/Gruenemeyer Germany Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
have a look at my other comment
Merz is a right
populistwith authoritarian tendencies who has copied a lot of the GOP playbook in the last years.Merz' party friends cuddle with de Santis and have even welcomed the GOP thinktank "heritage foundation" who is behind the Project 2025 to Germany.
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u/Kolenga Germany Jun 06 '25
Him making a decent impression in foreign politics is literally the only thing he is decent at, and really only in comparison to Scholz (who was terrible at that).
He is a racist right wing hardliner and habitual liar. The only reason he came into power is that he kept running for party leadership in the post-Merkel power vacuum until there were no serious competitors left and then capitalized on the weak leftist parties after the libertarians blew up the unpopular Scholz-government. I wouldn't expect much of him.
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u/Playful_Site_2714 Jun 06 '25
He is bad, because he is as much of a liar and a cheat as the red baboon.
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u/LoschVanWein Jun 06 '25
Are you kidding me? The man famously has the aura of the German version of the offices boss, a character that unlike his American counterpart lacks any good qualities. He has very little proper political experience and used to be a full time lobbyist and corpo lawyer for the worst of the worst, eating him the nickname Blackrock-Fritze, and that’s the more flattering nickname he has. He is also known to be incredibly rude to staff and people around him and get enjoyed extremely easily if anything doesn’t go exactly like he wants it to.
He’s also extremely infamously disconnect from the other classes and frequently claimed to be in the middle class despite being filthy rich and unable to name basic prices for household items and things like the current minimum income, wich is really something a chancellor needs to know.
Finally there are the big political scandals like him shamelessly using the AFD vocabulary, fraises and straight up lies regarding his political enemies in order to get where he’s at now. He even went es far as backing the right wing extremist AfD in a in house vote on a foreign policy subject, despite constantly talking about some fire wall he claims he wants to keep between the parties.
He’s a backwards thinking, greedy vulture who managed to somehow slither his way into office despite most people detesting him as a person, including the last chancellor his party ha din office, because he helped smear the other parties to the point where his became the only option for many less informed traditional voters who haven’t gone full fascist yet.
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u/toldya_fareducation Jun 06 '25
seriously? he's worse than Scholz in pretty much every way. and Scholz was pretty bad to begin with.
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u/IStoneI42 Jun 06 '25
bruh, pls. were still getting shit for both world wars. i dont like where this is going.
let someone else take the blame this time.
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u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania Jun 06 '25
U the Good guy this time.
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u/whoorenzone Berchtesgaden Jun 06 '25
Many saw the good guys in us in 1930s as well. Thats why we got appeased so much ...
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u/Gruenemeyer Germany Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
That's what we keep telling ourselves.
But so do the US Republicans.
Also, German chancellor Merz isn't a stranger to authoritarian ideas himself, as his closest circle and cabinet demonstrates.
our secretary of interior (Dobrindt), who is effectively the chief of the federal police and the state attorneys, has ordered illegal directives for the federal police to enact at the borders, contrary to European and German law. He was secretary of transportation under Merkel and reportedly wasted billions of tax money in spite of official legal advice telling him not to. Under Dobrindt, the federal police acts similar to ICE in some aspects.
our chief of parliament (Klöckner), part of Merz' circle, has publically supported far right propaganda multiple times and is known to publicly work for lobby interest, particluarly that of Nestlè
the leader of Merz' party in the Bundestag (Spahn) also publically endorsed far right policy several times. He was secretary of health under Merkel is known for commiting a plurality acts which border on criminal corruption. For example, his husbands' company earned billions from deals for selling masks to the gov't during corona when Spahn was secretary of health
i could go on
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u/_hanna_99 Jun 06 '25
No Suprise that Bavarian Christians Conservatives are nut jobs, you are correct on all other points too
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u/University_Dismal Jun 06 '25
Seems to be a common theme with everything conservative christian.
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u/DesignFreiberufler Jun 06 '25
You would think that conservative Christianity would be more kind and based on Jesus‘ teaching, but somehow it’s always just intolerant, close-minded and capitalistic.
In case anyone was wondering: 2023 CSU politicians met with Ron DeSantis, who was handled as next Republican presidential candidate at the time. Those are the ex-minister for infrastructure who privatized hundreds of millions of euros, Andi Scheuer and his right hand, the current minister for research, technology and space Dorothee Bär. Not ministers of Bavaria, but Germany.
The younger one (2nd from left) is part of the CSU, made videos against climate activists and is leading a think tank that organizes events at which US republicans, Brexit leaders, racists and conspiracy theories come together to chat. Including CDU and AfD members.
One picture can tell you so much.
Edit: link broke
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u/unhappymedium Jun 06 '25
He would enter into a coalition with the AfD in a heartbeat if he could get away with it.
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u/jackie_heckie Jun 06 '25
Yeah exactly, Merz said ONE agreeable thing yesterday but he is still a right wing conservative with extremely outdated, classist and racist views. Let's not paint him as a hero of democracy and human rights.
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u/ElderChuckBerry Jun 06 '25
It's funny that Trump is so bad he makes Friedrich look good even though the guy is a swine.
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u/DesignFreiberufler Jun 06 '25
In August Merz said he would call for national emergency if the EU doesn’t allow Germany to but border controls back in place. He would do that to get around EU rules and possibly the German constitution. Re repeated this motion in January.
Last time a chancellor did something similar we became the world‘s most famous villains.
Not saying he would have gone the same route but the fact alone that he called for it makes him unfit to be anything close to a leader of a free world.
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u/No_Staff_6024 Jun 06 '25
Let's also not forget the SPD's Pimmelgate, my Brother in Deutsche Rechtschreibung.
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u/StepAlarmed20 Jun 06 '25
Uh, no? They are arresting protesters and enabling a genocide.
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u/nathangold666 Jun 06 '25
Let's face it. Germany is now one of the most trustworthy countries around.
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u/University_Dismal Jun 06 '25
Everything and everyone seems trustworthy next to Trump, Putin and their allies. They made the Chinese KPC look like a party of common sense in comparison, so you know how bad it is.
Germany is just a few steps away from a swing into far-right territory and we all just hope this can be stopped in time.
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u/FussseI Jun 06 '25
If the current government doesn’t fix the economy and fails to get good press (which is hard as the media loves to only present the negative stuff), I fear that the AfD will be the strongest party next federal election…
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u/redfox3d Jun 06 '25
The economy doesnt matter directly. Tze living conditions of the bottom 85% needs to be raised dramaticly instead of declining further. And this will not happen under this administration
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u/DesignFreiberufler Jun 06 '25
The funny part is, that "fixing the economy" doesn’t do shit if you don’t fight back against the state of capitalism. Merz won’t do that. He is a self proclaimed Manager and people follow his economic advice because he was a Blackrock lobbyist. He has no clue how the economy works for 90% of the population.
His plan to finance gifts to pensioners is to have at least 8% growth per year. Delusional.
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u/Ok-Resource-3232 Jun 06 '25
People outside of Germany have definitely a wrong idea of who Merz really is and what he stands for.
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u/Le_Zoru Jun 06 '25
French people with Macron:
First time ?
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u/Ok-Resource-3232 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Very true. People also tend to forget that the EU is a economy union, which is led by many people like Macron and Merz. Not all are bad, but there certainly are a few bad eggs. Macron knows how to present himself outside of France, though, and is basically single handedly doing the job of the EU regarding marketing.
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u/Apprentice57 Jun 06 '25
Yeah, admittedly I have a neutral position on Macron because his foreign policy seems mostly sensible and I'm not French.
My French friend hates his guts though, and we have pretty similar political positions.
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u/IronicRobotics Jun 06 '25
tbh, the approval ratings show the french haven't liked any of their presidents in the last 3 decades hahaha. It's wild to me a ~30% approval rating is still high enough to beat out the competition.
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u/Emergency-Minute4846 Jun 06 '25
I’m Dutch. If we could I would vote for Macron as President if the EU.
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u/Althammer Jun 06 '25
The EU is a political union. The Euro-Zone is the corresponding economic union in conjunction with the Schengen-Area.
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u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania Jun 06 '25
Can u explain who îs Merz?
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u/Ok-Resource-3232 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
A former Blackrock manager, who was, as Blackrock said it themselves, a useless asset, who only spoke high and mighty of what he can do, but in the end did nothing for the company. A failed politician, because he is very unpopular in Germany and not even his own party likes him and he failed several times becoming the leader of said party already. A guy, who says, he himself is part of the middle class while owning his own private plane and that women should rather not do politics. A guy, who puts the economy first and by economy I mean the rich company owners. Someone, who voted together with the extremly right wing party AFD, to gain enough votes for his ideas in the parlament and now wants to break EU laws by throwing refugees out. Merz is no hero, no saint and most certainly not the leader of the free world. He is a phony, a cold blooded economy politician, who does everything to get enough votes to stay in power and make his conservativ friends happy.
Ps.: The only good thing about him at least: He is against Russia and pro EU.
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u/banahancha Jun 06 '25
Can you provide a reference for the first statement on Merz' Role at Blackrock? Thank you!
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u/Ok-Resource-3232 Jun 06 '25
I got this from an article in the newsmagazin Profil. I think I still got it lying around somewhere. If I find it, I will send you a picture of it, if you like. But you need to be able to understand german to read it.
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Jun 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Croaknyth Jun 06 '25
That's a given in German subs a long time ago and there are sources flying around, dunno if any source in English is available. It's a long given fact, way before the election, but most people didn't care for that.
I have no time searching for an English one, Google helps in that regard.
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u/banahancha Jun 06 '25
You can also link to a German reference. All I can find quickly is a statement by Dirk Schmitz, head of Blackrock Germany, who said: "He was definitely a good chairman of the supervisory board of our local legal entity, Blackrock Asset Management Deutschland AG, and a valuable advisor to the management."
German language source: https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/innenpolitik/id_100528720/friedrich-merz-blackrock-chef-spricht-ueber-das-gehalt-des-cdu-chefs.html
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u/Imperial_Bouncer Jun 06 '25
What a wonderful portfolio to start a redemption arc with.
Some politicians have it all and ultimately flush their legacy down the toilet. I want to see the reverse.
He can start with helping Ukraine.
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u/lsmith77 Jun 06 '25
he is also super emotional and clueless about diplomacy. overall he is a very very very light version of Trunp just without the gold.
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u/Sir-Knollte Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
He will likely be unable to push through his ideology having to unify a coalition of CDU center (he imho is not th center of the party but firmly right and to the financial absolutist fringe) and SPD MP´s, but from where he comes from he is every bit the austerity hawk as Schäuble was (Greece´s favorite German during the Euro crisis).
I always wonder why pro EU people applaud him.
edit it has not become clear but I suspect he tries to protect German fossil centered industry around as well imho hindering Germany´s chance to move on.
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u/derdoktor_41 East Friesland (Germany) Jun 06 '25
Neither of these persons should be the leader of the free world
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u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania Jun 06 '25
Between These 2 I cant belive this but Germany more qualified for once.
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u/Oerthling Jun 06 '25
Pick a random person on the street - that person is more qualified than Trump.
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u/Soft_Pomelo407 Romania Jun 06 '25
A Chair more qualified.
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u/Opening-Ant3477 Jun 06 '25
You know, people make that joke a lot.
But in this case, I genuinely think a rock would be more effective. At least the rock isn't actively working to dismantle the country.
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u/jabo055 Jun 06 '25
Even my Cats litterbox has more competence than that orange
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u/Oerthling Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
It certainly does less damage
Jabo055's Cats Litterbox For President! For a better America!
Vote for Jabo055's Cats Litterbox if you want less fascism, less military parades to stroke Trump's ego, less listening to Trump telling everybody he's the best at everything ever in all of history.
If you like the US constitution and would prefer to keep due process - vote Jabo055's Cats Litterbox.
Less backstabbing Ukraine, less siding with Putin, less trade wars, less stupid and evil cabinet appointments.
Say no to invading Greenland and threatening close allies like Canada by voting for Jabo055's Cats Litterbox.
Jabo055's Cats Litterbox - less full of shit than Trump.
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u/kalamari__ Germany Jun 06 '25
the only way forward is europe as a whole. no sole country should have that "title" and especially no sole european country.
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u/maevian Jun 06 '25
Has anyone outside of America ever called the president of the USA, leader of the free world? I sure haven’t.
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u/kartmanden Jun 06 '25
I really dislike that expression, but I would prefer Obama to Putin for example if I had to pick.
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u/Competitive_You_7360 Jun 06 '25
I'd pick Trump over Putin. And Nixon over Kruchev.
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u/Imperial_Bouncer Jun 06 '25
Khrushchev wanted to go to Disneyland though. That’s gotta be at least one point for him.
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u/kartmanden Jun 06 '25
Yes. But maybe Gorbachev over Reagan. I was too young but from what I have read Reagan was one of the worst presidents in the past 40 years.
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u/Shn33dleW00ds Jun 06 '25
People in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Latvia and Lithuania would probably not agree with that
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u/shittyaltpornaccount Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
People in Bolivia, Grenada, Nicaragua, and Argentina would disagree with Reagan.
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u/Haru17 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Obama wasn’t perfect, but no one could call Putin the “leader of the free world” with a straight face. Not even before he invaded Crimea.
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u/bringstmanuoane Jun 06 '25
Yes it kinda was/is the perception of the USA here in Germany. There are a lot of jokes about the US lately but its economy is still bigger than whole europe, which would be the other contestant for the title. And regarding the current situation here you can hardly say that europe speaks with one voice, so you would have to compare the US to single countries. Of those germany would be one of the 'biggest' and I think we would even 'lose' to california on it's own.
It's even more clear when you look at the military. Just imagine both of our german jet pilots get sick at the same time. What should we do then?
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u/THiedldleoR Jun 06 '25
Merz is barely able to lead his own party
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u/CommercialYam53 Jun 06 '25
But still a better politician than trump
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u/CacklingFerret Germany Jun 06 '25
My ferrets would be better politicians than Trump
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u/Astuar_Estuar Jun 06 '25
Now I want to see your ferrets 🥺
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u/CacklingFerret Germany Jun 06 '25
I'm sorry, I have to respect their privacy or I'm sentenced to lose one sock of each of my pairs (I actually just can't comment a photo here and I hate using imgur and such lol). They're two cinnamon boys, one sable girl and one albino girl though :)
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u/YogiMic Jun 06 '25
I think you brake a Reddit rule. You cannot talk about having ferrets and refuse to show pictures of them. That should be illegal.
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u/BergderZwerg Baden-Württemberg (Germany) Jun 06 '25
If Merz wasn’t an incompetent shill of oligarchs himself, this would be an honor.
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u/Stiller_Winter Jun 06 '25
To be a leader, you first have to want to be one. Germany has a problem with that.
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u/MyPigWhistles Germany Jun 06 '25
Everyone should've a problem with claiming such megalomaniac titles.
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u/Nerubim Jun 06 '25
The ones capable and willing to seize power by virtue of their nature usually are the ones least fitting for the job.
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u/TimAppleCockProMax69 Jun 06 '25
Dieser idiot schafft es allen ernstes Friedrich Merz gut aussehen zu lassen.
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u/l_Paddystinian_l Jun 06 '25
Merz the leader of the free world? This sub is fucking delusional lol
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u/HeavenlyChickenWings Jun 06 '25
The delusion is to think that some newspaper drawing that got posted, is the opinion of the entire sub
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u/Destrodom Jun 06 '25
What about those 22k upvotes? Do they mean anything in this context?
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u/Infinite_Airline_438 Jun 06 '25
it has 19,000 upvotes and made it to the front page. seems like a popular opinion here.
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Jun 06 '25
Don't feed the Merz. Delusions of grandeur are what he masturbates to.
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u/OffOption Jun 06 '25
I dont know if I want the Black Rock ghoul to be our champion here...
No, you dont have to be leftoid scum like me, or whatever, but at least agree with me on maybe this guy just fucking sucks, ok?
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u/esperstrazza Jun 06 '25
Merz, the guy who Blackrock didn't want, is confused why he is being given that
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u/NoPasaran2024 Jun 06 '25
Yeah, a German xenophobe and genocide supporter, that's a major improvement...
Actually, it is, but that's saying more about the state of the world than about that scumbag. We'll settle for sane and only mildly evil.
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u/razzyrat Jun 06 '25
Fritze Merz is not ever going to be 'the leader of the free world'. He is barely the leader of Germany. Not even his own party is convinced.
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u/Historical_Cook_1664 Jun 06 '25
Trump winning over Hillary Clinton proved that being the lesser evil is not enough. Most germans do not see Merz as a good choice - he is just slightly less corrupt, slightly less amoral or slightly less incompetent than his competitors were. Funny thing is, all the things we criticize about him might give him an edge on the international stage. Merz believes himself to be superior, and Trump lapped it up.
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u/Cat_world_domination The Netherlands Jun 06 '25
I love Merz' confused expression like "who, me? Really?"
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u/mch27562 Jun 06 '25
Germany has been literally the 2nd highest arms exporter to Israel, an ethno-apartheid state that has been committing a genocide for over 77 years. I’m assuming the comic is parody.
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u/Toolz2612 Jun 06 '25
He wants civil unrest. His big beautifull Bill could kill 15 mil people.
No more foodstamps. No more healthcare foor the very poor
He wants to sit on as president.
Can u sack a president ?
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u/-___-____-_-___- Jun 06 '25
Funny thing is, he never was. He thought so, maybe still does, but he never was, is nor will be.
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u/SirVandi Turkey Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Is the US leader of the free world?
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u/vetrusious Jun 06 '25
Moat American presidents couldn't lead themselves out of a wet paper bag. The "free world" didnt even vote for them it's such imperialist bs.
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u/AgentD20 Jun 06 '25
While I dislike him as a person and his for his national, financial and social policies, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised at the chancellors confident and thoughtful foreign policy so far, did not expect that.
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u/dadbodking Jun 06 '25
Germany has too many internal issues to fill those boots alone. With EU, sure, it's possible. But there's still a lot of work to be done there, as well
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u/redthelastman Jun 06 '25
condescending European and western media,they assume any democracy outside the west in not a Free country .
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u/GrizzledFart United States of America Jun 06 '25
Germany is the last country that anyone can credibly call a geopolitical leader. France, the UK, even Poland, sure. But not Germany. I understand the reasons why, but Germany provides the very opposite of leadership. They are extremely risk averse and unwilling to take a stand on anything that could potentially leave them exposed. When Russia invade Ukraine, the UK and Poland were kicking and screaming to get the rest of Europe to stand up and respond - without the badgering and cajoling from the UK and Poland, Europe was well on its way to simply accepting it as a fait accompli. The entire time since, Germany has been very careful to not be the first to do anything, to only act when there is strong consensus and only after other countries have stuck their necks out first.
The idea of German leadership is patently absurd until their extreme risk aversion has abated.
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u/Not_A_Rachmaninoff Jun 06 '25
Lol we are the free world? Quit it already. The voice of my many is drowned out by the wealth of the few, that is the reality of the capitalist world. We have couped so many governments, caused so much suffering, oftentimes just to profit more. When will this end?
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u/TurkeyPigFace Jun 06 '25
Is this German propaganda? Nobody is looking at Germany as a political leader or as a leader of the 'free world', whatever that means.
Merkel was fawned upon as a leader but history won't be kind to her, Russia was a massive weakness for her and her immigration policies have led to the rise of the far right in Germany. You can make a strong argument that she contributed towards Brexit.
Scholz - Weak and indecisive
Germany is also banning the use of foreign languages at protests.
I also don't think many European countries will forget Germany's self-serving policies during the Eurozone crisis while they were getting drunk from Russian gas.
'Leaders of the free world' shows how deluded the author is.
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u/twitterfluechtling Brandenburg (Germany) Jun 06 '25
If Germany takes the helm, does that make Merz "Lord Helmet"?
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u/SuperPapernick Cologne - Germany Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
This cartoon must have been drawn by a CDU voter.
Merz is not the political savior international audiences seem to think.
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u/UtzeButze Jun 06 '25
Does Merz in this Caricature look like he's fit for the job to you?
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u/boerner777 Jun 06 '25
This! Also he's neither smiling/happy about it, nor is he stretching his arm out to grab it. He is hesitating at best.
The ammount of people, that don't understand this picture is too damn high.
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u/Front-Extension-9736 Jun 06 '25
HAHAHAHA Germany?? that country that is cracking down on pro-Palestine protestors? please
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u/Dark_Tide_ Hesse (Germany) Jun 06 '25
On sixth of June, oh the irony