The German election didn't mean what Donald Trump thinks

Over the weekend, Germany chose the center right Christian Democrats and its leader Friedrich Merz, a rebuke to the more-liberal governance of the Social Democratic party, which had been in power for the last few years.

Donald Trump quickly sought to take credit for the win — via Truth Social:

Which, not really?

Here are 3 reasons why the German results are not as simple — or as pro-Trump — as the president is suggesting:

1. Merz and the Christian Democrats are very much an establishment party. (This is Angela Merkel’s party!) And Merz has been kicking around the party for decades. He is a wealthy businessman who is very much not an outsider. This would be like if Mitt Romney got elected. Like, not exactly a radical promising to shake up the system ala Trump.

2. Vice President JD Vance and DOGE head Elon Musk both publicly advocated for the far right AfD party. While AfD did get its highest percentage of the vote ever, it will be left out of the governing coalition in Germany as Merz has pledged to never work with it or its leaders. (Like I said, this guy ain’t Donald Trump for Germany!)

3. In remarks after winning, Merz made clear that he wants to bring Germany further away from the U.S., not closer. “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Merz said.“This [U.S.] administration are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”

Now, to be clear, there are some similarities between what happened in the U.S. in 2024 and in Germany in 2025. Merz has moved his party to the right on immigration amid unrest on the issue in the country. And unhappiness with the state of the economy mattered in the German election as it did in the U.S. presidential contest.

But, there is MUCH more than meets Trump’s analysis of the German election. This was not a facsimile of what happened in the U.S. a few months ago. It’s a far more complex result than Donald Trump would like you to believe.

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