Dumb American lefties dubbed Merkel the leader of the free world. Things look rather different to the rest of Europe, right or left.
Forget the time that Merkel decided to open Europe wide to an invasion with few parallels in recent history. In the EU, France and the UK balanced out German power. Now the Brits are headed for the exit and that leaves France and its weak new leader.
Merkel has already begun throwing her weight around and acting like the leader of Europe as a whole. It's why European leaders are far more worried about her than President Trump. Forget all the media attempts to sabotage Trump's visit. European leaders will despise him, just as they despised Bush and Reagan. And, in private, they weren't too respectful of Obama and Clinton either. Sneering at America is an old game in Europe. But America is the only other balancing force against Germany. American intervention stopped Germany twice. And no one has forgotten it.
European leaders may hold America in contempt, but they also know that we're not threat to them. And if they have to live with a dominant partner, better a generous one like Uncle Sam than a cheap and mean one like Auntie Angela. And that's even if she doesn't invite a few million Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Syrians and some of their Libyan best friends to trash their country.