Friedrich Merz, Chancellor of Germany, on his low approval rating:

I have to make decisions that really should have been taken in Germany years ago — or even decades ago.

Just look at our social security systems. For example, the pension system is no longer sustainable in its current form given demographic trends.

And anyone who asks a country to accept change naturally won’t be popular at first.

Of course, I look at polls and pay attention to them, but they are not a yardstick by which I judge my policies.

The yardstick for my policies is this: are we, as the federal government, leading this country toward a sustainable, peaceful, and free future?