Having led his party, the Christian Democrats, to first place in Germany’s election last month, Mr. Merz swiftly assumed the mantle of chancellor-in-waiting. He urged the country to move quickly to address the challenges, both domestic and foreign, that threaten to overwhelm it. “The world,” he said, “is not waiting for us.”

The collective shunning of the AfD party is part of a longstanding attempt to blunt its move into the mainstream.

The German federal polls have closed, and the exit polls appear to have handed the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) a victory.

The Leader of the AfD remarks that America can have a docile Germany and pay most of its defense bills — or leave Germany to pay its own bills but