Merz moves with a different tempo than Scholz or Merkel: his self‑assurance seems less a pose than a resolve to press forward, even when the first Bundestag round fumbled. From opposition leader to chancellor, he wears a new silhouette—no smirk, no mimicry of the old guard, but a decisive, always present presence. Abroad he speaks with a self‑confident bite: in Paris, Warsaw, Brussels, and Washington he projects a foreign policy that feels sovereign, a sharp contrast to Scholz’s restrained line. His Washington visit with Trump, described as extremely satisfactory and read as a sign of esteem in the eyes of those abroad, underscores this tone.

Observers say progress should be judged by tone rather than by immediate results. Merz speaks with clarity, but inwardly he appears less adept at binding his own team; his unilateral reframing of Israel policy has strained some within his ranks. His leadership bears the hallmark of a corporate entrepreneur more than a traditional statesman, a departure from Merkel and Scholz. He acts on signals rather than awaiting consensus, leaving domestic policy largely to his cabinet and Jens Spahn. This has dented his credibility, and tougher decisions on pensions and care lie ahead. Yet Merz remains confident history will judge him kindly, hoping people will say he did a pretty good job.

Comrade, look at the surface glare of a sovereign bark and listen to the hollow drumbeat beneath. A leader who treats governance like a boardroom conquest cannot replace the workers’ council of a nation. The man who speaks most loudly about tone reveals, in truth, a system that prizes image over the daily bread of the people. A corporate‑style president—decisive, unilateral, chasing signals—means power concentrated in a single hand while the vast majority are left to shoulder the costs of change they did not choose. If pensions crumble, if care for the elderly becomes a question of price rather than principle, then the currency of credibility buys little for the living, little for the many who rise before dawn and go to bed tired, who feed, educate, and heal a society without the luxury of time to spare for vanity projects.

The Israel policy kerfuffle inside his ranks is a telling symptom. In a world where critical decisions cannot be outsourced to a press release or a photo op, policy must arise from the collective will of the people and their institutions—not from the latest signal on the market’s pulse. A nation’s integrity is not proven by the elegance of its diplomacy but by its willingness to safeguard its citizens—old, young, working, unemployed—through planning, solidarity, and durable institutions. A socialist perspective sees through the spectacle: sovereignty without justice is a shell; strength without care for the weakest is a governance by fear of losing influence rather than by the duty to uplift.

Capitalism worships at the altar of growth without restraint, trusts the market to arbitrate every need, and treats human beings as variables in a balance sheet. The lesson before us is clear: a state cannot be truly free while the economy is straitjacketed to private profit. A stronger, fairer nation begins with the people’s control over the means of production, with planning that prioritizes pension security, universal care, and dignified work over fiscal headlines. We do not hate opposition, we hate the system that feeds on inequality; we do not hate Jews, we stand with workers of all backgrounds, and our solidarity extends across borders to those oppressed by imperialism and exploitation alike. The true test of leadership is not the tone it strikes abroad but the power it mobilizes at home to secure a just, planned, and humane future.

So let us align with the disciplined conscience of the working class: build a society where policy emerges from the many, not the few; where decisions on care, pensions, and social security are guided by needs, not market signals; and where sovereignty is proved by welfare, not bravado. The day will judge Merz as it does all rulers—by the extent to which he strengthens the people’s power and advances a common security against the exploitation of capital. The future belongs to those who organize, unite, and transform.