THE GUARDIAN — OPINION: European leaders who know their continent’s history must now see that the US president is siding with the forces of tyranny
In January 2018, when Donald Trump was in the second year of his first term as US president, Angela Merkel, in her 13th year as German chancellor, gave a gloomy speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. She opened her remarks with a warning from Europe’s past. Politicians had “sleep-walked” into the first world war. As the number of surviving eyewitnesses to the second world war dwindled, she added, subsequent generations would have to prove they understood the fragility of peace. “We need to ask ourselves if we have really learned from history or not.”
Fast forward eight years. Vladimir Putin’s territorial aggression harries Europe’s eastern flank. To the west, Trump, now in his second term and guest of honour at Davos, threatens to annex Greenland. This is not a world that has internalised the lessons of the 20th century.
Merkel’s reputation has not improved since leaving office. She is criticised – often harshly, sometimes fairly – for presiding over stagnation and calling it stability. Hindsight condemns her for failing to prepare Germany’s economy, defence and energy infrastructure for the coming age of turbulence. But she had the measure of Trump from the start.
On the morning after his first election victory in 2016, Merkel’s congratulations contained a chilly caveat. Her statement noted that Germany and the US had built a relationship based on shared respect for democracy, the rule of law, political pluralism, non-discrimination on the basis of race, creed and sexual orientation. Ongoing cooperation was offered “on the basis of these values”. » | Rafael Behr | Wednesday, January 21, 2026
