Merz promised the knife, delivered the butter spreader

Spectator Australia · Henry Donovan · Sunday 26 April 2026

Merz promised the knife, delivered the butter spreader

Germany's conservatives wanted a break from Merkel's fifteen-year managerial drift. Merz spent a career attacking it, then inherited it whole.

Germans voted for a sharp conservative knife and got another butter spreader. Merz spent fifteen years telling anyone who'd listen that Merkel had hollowed out the CDU, then took the chancellorship and proved her right by becoming her. Bismarck unified Germany with blood and iron. This bloke's running it on focus groups and a shrug.

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