Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has provided her insight into President-elect Donald Trump as a leader in her memoir set to be released next week.
Excerpts of Merkel's 700-page memoir, entitled "Freedom", have been released by the German weekly publication Die Ziet, in which Merkel comments on her previous working relationship with former President Trump.
"Instead of stoically bearing it, I whispered to him that we should shake hands again," she wrote, noting how he refused to shake her hand in front of cameras during their first meeting at the Oval Office in 2017.
"As soon as the words left my mouth, I shook my head at myself. How could I forget that Trump knew precisely what he was doing ... He wanted to give people something to talk about with his behavior, while I had acted as though I were having a conversation with someone completely normal," she continued.
Merkel's sentiments in her memoir are much more candid now than when she was the leader of her country. Not only did she highlight Trump's "emotional" approach to diplomacy, but she also spoke about his reported need for approval.
"It seemed that his main aim was to make the person he was talking to feel guilty ... At the same time I had the impression ... that he also wanted the person he was talking with to like him," she continued.
Furthermore, Merkel weighed in on Trump's alleged fascination with autocratic or dictatorial leaders.
"Politicians with autocratic and dictatorial traits had him in their thrall", she said of the 45th U.S. President, further noting that Trump also "was apparently fascinated with the Russian president".
Trump himself demonstrated that the former German Chancellor was still on his mind even years after she left office, having mentioned her while on the campaign trail in 2024. At a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, Trump told supporters about how he confronted Merkel for not having spent enough on defense within NATO.
"[The Germans] didn't love me because I said you gotta pay," said the President-elect. "I said to Angela -- 'Angela, you haven't paid.'"
Merkel's memoir is set to be released Tuesday. Though she has largely remained out of the public eye since stepping down as Chancellor, she is making public appearances in order to promote the book.
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