Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave an extensive interview to Christiane Amanpour on CNN, where she shared her thoughts on the then-President Donald Trump and revealed secrets behind their meetings.
Merkel stated in the interview that Trump is "fascinated by sheer power," particularly impressed by 'strongmen' like Russian President Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "“The way he spoke about Putin, the way he spoke about the North Korean (leader) – obviously apart from critical remarks he made – there was always a kind of fascination with the sheer power of what these people could do," Merkel said.
She also claimed that Trump himself would like to hold administrative power to make decisions on his own, without the need for approval from legislative bodies in the U.S.
"My impression always was that he dreamt of actually overriding maybe all those parliamentary bodies that he felt were in a way an encumbrance upon him, and that he wanted to decide matters on his own. In a democracy – well, you cannot reconcile that with democratic values," Merkel stated.
The former Chancellor also referred to the famous meeting with Trump in 2017. The two met in the Oval Office at the White House and were asked by journalists to shake hands. Trump seemed to reject the request and avoided shaking hands with Merkel. "Trump lives off of acting unconventionally and often tries to set a marker," claimed Merkel.
Another famous meeting Merkel referred to was with Russian President Putin, who brought his large Labrador dog to their 2007 meeting, despite knowing that Merkel was afraid of dogs.
“It’s a little, small attempt to test the waters – you know, how resilient a person is, how strong,” Merkel said. “It’s a power play.”
She also recounted that in 2014, after the Russian invasion of Crimea, Putin denied it was Russian army soldiers, but later admitted to her that he lied.