Leader Of The Free World

Is there any prominent 21st century national political leader whose reputation has fallen as far, and as fast, as Angela Merkel's?

Merkel, Germany's Chancellor from 2005 to 2021, was often referred to as "The Leader of the Free World".  Though this started during the second Obama administration, the use of the phrase accelerated during the subsequent Trump presidency, intended both as boost to Merkel and a slap at Trump.

Merkel, born in East Germany, and trained in theoretical physics and mathematics, became politically active with the fall of the Berlin Wall, rising quickly in the politics of the reunified country as a member of the Christian Democratic Union, becoming a government minister by 1991. 

 

This photo is from a 2017 Politico article titled The New Leader of the Free World, praising the Chancellor:

Today, not only is Merkel, as the leader of the world’s fourth-largest economy, the most powerful woman on the planet, she’s also a bulwark of stability in a time of global turmoil. Merkel is often dubbed “the leader of the free world” in a dig at Donald Trump, an American president she has greeted with eye-rolls s in person and firm rebukes on issues from climate change to refugees to Neo-Nazis. And the label seems to fit: As populism rises in Western countries and the United States retreats from the world, it’s Merkel who is offering the steady, strong leadership that once emanated from Washington. 

Let's look back on her major initiatives from the perspective of 2026. 

On foreign policy, she advocated a closer relationship with Russia, supporting the construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, despite warnings, including from Donald Trump, that the pipeline would make Germany more dependent on Russia and more susceptible to its influence. 

At the same time, Merkel oversaw the degradation of the German military from the formidable fighting force of the Cold War era to a shadow of itself.  Again, she was warned against this in light of the growing threat by others, including Donald Trump.  Instead, Germany, like other NATO members, reduced spending knowing they could count upon the U.S. in a pinch.

When an emboldened Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 those warnings proved prescient with Germany left in a weakened military posture and embarrassingly dependent on Russia energy supplies. 

Which brings us to her failed energy policy.  An emphasis on climate change combined with the aftermath of Japan's Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011, somehow resulted in Merkel's decision to close and demolish all German nuclear plants, resulting in increased coal use and significantly higher energy costs.  The closure of the nuclear plants is simply one of the most idiotic energy policy decisions of any country in this century.

And that energy policy brings us to Merkel's economic policy.  In the early 21st century, Germany's economy was a powerhouse.  It no longer is due to the combined impact of two of Merkel's initiatives.  Encouraging closer relationships with, and investments in, China, along with dramatically higher energy costs reducing the competitiveness of German industry, reducing exports and driving reduction or relocation of energy-intensive industries.  Germany is now one of the worst performing economies of the major producing countries.

Finally, we come to immigration.  Merkel's decision in 2015 to suspend EU regulations and allow over one million Muslim refugees into Germany, which with knock-on effects resulted in more than six million refugees from these countries over the decade.  The result is increased societal turmoil, increases in crime, and failures in assimilation, leading to political instability, particularly in the countries of central and western Europe.  Merkel took these actions despite stating in a 2010 speech that Germany's attempts to build a multicultural society had "utterly failed". 

The problems with all of these policies were identified at the time but most attempts at neutral analysis were derailed by ideology, anti-Americanism, and then by the ascendance of Donald Trump. None of the accolades Merkel received look good today.