Germany Merkel expresses concern about Trump and Musk

Germany's former Chancellor Angela Merkel expresses her concern about Donald Trump's renewed election victory and the influence of billionaire Elon Musk on the future US President.

"If someone in politics does not allow win-win situations, but only ever knows winners and losers, then that is a very difficult task for multilateralism," Merkel told Der Spiegel magazine about Trump. She did not consider this "outdoing each other" to be a political virtue and was not her style. She felt sad that the Democrat Kamala Harris had not won the US election: "I would have wished it differently."

With regard to Musk, Merkel said: "If a person like him is the owner of 60 percent of all satellites orbiting in space, then that must concern us enormously in addition to the political issues." In the many crises of her chancellorship, politics was the last resort to ensure a balance between the powerful and ordinary citizens. "If this final authority is too strongly influenced by companies, whether through capital power or technological capabilities, then that is an unprecedented challenge for us all."

Merkel on Trump: every meeting is a competition

Merkel governed at the same time as Trump from 2017 to 2021 and met with him several times. Trump was very curious and wanted to know all the details, the former chancellor said. "But only to scan them for his own advantage, to find arguments that would strengthen him and weaken others," she added.

"The more people were in the room, the greater his urge to be the winner. You can't chat with him, every meeting is a competition: you or me." Other heads of government should not adapt to this style under any circumstances, Merkel warned: "Otherwise you won't get anything done politically."

Merkel's memoirs entitled "Freedom" will be published on Tuesday.

SDA