Federal Chancellor of Germany

I mean, let me put it differently.

When Charles de Gaulle, the French president, met Ludwig Erhard, the German Bundeskanzler, in 1963 for the first time, 1963, And they had a talk about transatlantic relations.

And Ludwig Erhard was praising the U.S. and how great the U.S. is and that the U.S. is protecting Germany.

And then Ludwig Charles de Gaulle asked Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor, Mr.

So, so I'm, I'm still hopeful.

And, and when I look at, uh, Friedrich Merz, the Bundeskanzler of Germany, um, even his opponents give him, uh, high marks for what he's doing on the international front.

His visit to Kyiv this past weekend.

Um, I, I think that Germans, uh, recognize that they have to be a, uh, a pillar, if you will, inside Europe around which...

Yes, Jacob.

But listen, there's a lot of stuff going on in, in Germany, and during those years, just remember that the German Bundeskanzler, he, you know, when he retired, he became the president of, uh-

Oh.

Oh

Now, this is going to be improving over the next few months.

I think the German Bundeskanzler was just there in Ukraine over the weekend, and it looks like there's going to be a German-Ukrainian – joint venture that's going to help increase counter drone capabilities, for example.

I think some of these things are coming.

And Ukraine is growing their own capability.

How do you see that?

You know, the German deputy Bundeskanzler Lars Klingbeil from the SPD, the Social Democrats, after the Leipzig incident, he described this as Russia filling the space that we are giving them, which I thought was a very good characterization.

Our inaction, in effect, creates space and the Russians do not hesitate to fill that space.

In other words, they will continue to, push the limits until they really do meet resistance and face consequences.

And I mentioned Mr. Klingbaum because the Social Democrats are not famous for being tough on Russia, but this coalition, this was important.

And I think it helped also for the Bundeskanzler himself, for them to point out that it was Russia that was responsible for the drone with the explosives in Leipzig airport.

Now, the reaction of course was underwhelming.

They shut down the Russian consulate in Bonn.

We have a word for it for a reason.

The Bundestrainer is as important as the Bundeskanzler, the Bundesbahn, the Bundespräsident, all of these things.

It's if you got Bundes in front of your name, you're representing Germany.

Uh, so Klopp has inherited, um, what once was the pride of a nation, uh, and is now [laughs], um, after three disappointing, uh, World Cups, uh, and two disappointing Euros, just, just something that the Germans are, are not behind anymore.