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 @ISIDEWITHNewselectionsGermanyBerlinFriedrich MerzChancellorGerman PoliticsAngela MerkelCDU•••1yr ago

Friedrich Merz: The Comeback Kid Aiming for Germany's Top Job

After being sidelined by Angela Merkel over two decades ago, Friedrich Merz is making a significant political comeback as he sets his sights on becoming Germany's next chancellor. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party have chosen Merz as their candidate for the upcoming national election. This marks Merz's first potential government position, despite his long history in German politics. His candidacy represents a pivotal moment for the CDU as they aim to reclaim leadership after Merkel's era.

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Friedrich Merz:CDU leader sets sights on becoming German chancellor

https://reuters.com

Squeezed out of top-level politics by his arch party rival Angela Merkel more than two decades ago, Friedrich Merz is on course to land his first ever government job: as Germany's next chancellor.

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German opposition Christian Democrats tap leader Friedrich Merz as their candidate for chancellor

https://seattletimes.com

Germany’s opposition center-right Christian Democratic Union has chosen its leader Friedrich Merz to be its candidate for chancellor in next year’s national election.

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Trump’s Doom vs. Harris’s Hope as America Decides Its Fate

Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris closed out their campaigns in the final hours before Election Day in starkly different moods: The former president, often appearing drained at arenas that were not filled, claimed that the country was on the brink of ruin, while the vice president promised a more united future as energized supporters chanted alongside her, “We’re not going back.”In stop after stop, the presidential rivals essentially offered up two competing versions of reality on Monday and into early Tuesday. Mr. Trump repeatedly raised the specter of unchecked immigration and the dangers of Democratic policies as he spoke to crowds in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before closing with a midnight rally in Michigan.With a comparatively more optimistic message, Ms. Harris crisscrossed Pennsylvania, which holds 19 electoral votes that could decide the race. Stopping in Scranton, Allentown and Pittsburgh before a nighttime rally in Philadelphia, Ms. Harris talked about bolstering the economy and restoring federal abortion rights. She asserted that Americans were “exhausted” and ready to move on from the politics of the past decade.About 30 miles to the southwest, Mr. Trump was in Reading, Pa., broadly portraying undocumented immigrants as mentally ill criminals and calling those accused of crimes “savages” and “animals.”Both leaned on Hispanic supporters as they tried to rally Latino voters. The pro-Harris rapper Fat Joe, who is Puerto Rican, practically shamed his fellow Latinos in Allentown as he asked, “Where’s your pride?” Mr. Trump, still facing fallout from his rally in New York at which a comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” brought Roberto Clemente Jr., the son of the Puerto Rican baseball legend, to the stage at a rally in Pittsburgh.But Mr. Trump, reaching the end of a grueling marathon of a campaign that began in 2022, looked visibly weary, battling fatigue in front of listless crowds, though he was relatively more upbeat and energized in Michigan. Ms. Harris, still appearing fresh after a three-month sprint, appealed for unity and pressed the contrast to her rival without uttering his name.“The measure of a true leader is based not on who you beat down,” she said. “It is based on who you lift up.”Despite the sharply different tones, polls suggest the race remains tight, with the final New York Times/Siena College surveys showing the candidates tied or holding only narrow leads in all of the seven battleground states.

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