Behavior of the Chancellor: Scholz’ irritating appearance

Smurfy or just plain arrogant? The Chancellor’s behavior once again raises questions. At the final press conference of the G7 summit in Elmau, he couldn’t resist presenting a journalist.

The appearance of Olaf Scholz in public is often irritating. Not only that he likes to make longer pauses in the middle of a sentence, during which the willing listener or the interested viewer asks himself: Is there something else coming? No, Olaf Scholz also has the gift of conveying the feeling to his counterpart: “I know that I know everything better.”

A rather unfortunate trait for a Chancellor. Which the SPD chancellor candidate, Scholz, was very good at hiding when he promoted his policy of respect on the squares of the republic. But now Scholz is chancellor and the arrogant style is back in full gear.

“Yes I could”

Most recently, this became apparent to the world public in Elmau, when Scholz answered a journalist’s question as to whether he could specify what security guarantees the G7 were making in Ukraine, with a simple “Yes, I could.” And then be silent.

Needless to argue that Scholz was formally and semantically right. Of course, he can answer a closed question, i.e. a question that can be answered with yes or no or maybe, in exactly the same way. Even Merkel might have answered this question in the same way, but she would almost certainly have refrained from adding “I could” – pause – grin – an unsaid “But I won’t do it”.

And the final “That’s it,” which Scholz threw at the journalist like a damp rag, Merkel would definitely have avoided. Schoolmaster behavior was very foreign to her, at least in public.

Arrogance as a trait

With Scholz, however, his temperament had run away – once again. A latent arrogance is inherent in this chancellor, which also becomes clear in countless interviews in which Scholz makes it more or less clear to his interviewees how much – but mostly how little – he thinks of them.

It doesn’t help that he occasionally puts in a “Thank you for your question” and then doesn’t answer the question verbosely. This becomes dangerous when someone is supposed to explain their policy to the people, as in the case of the Ukraine war, but obviously can’t do it.

Has G7 Scholz gone to his head?

In Elmau, Scholz may also have been at what felt like an all-time high in his chancellorship, spurred on by success, praised by US President Joe Biden, praised by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and high-fived by Canada’s President Justin Trudeau. This can sometimes obscure the view of the lowlands of everyday life.

It’s also quite possible that Scholz really thought his answer was funny. His humor, which manifests itself in a small circle as a kind of giggling boys’ humor, does indeed take some getting used to. Coupled with the malicious joy of the powerful “Eh, I know something, and I know it better than you, and I’m not going to tell you anyway”, but it’s rather bad. And definitely does not generate sympathy.

Sometimes silence would be appropriate

It’s one of those things with humor, especially when it comes at the expense of others. In this case also at the expense of a journalist whose mother tongue is clearly not German. Scholz is Scholz, he will remain so. He will not be a Rhenish charmer like Armin Laschet, not a hugging hugger like Markus Söder, not a compassionate poet like Robert Habeck.

In the case of Elmau, silence would have been appropriate, Scholz can learn a lot from Merkel in this field too. She was strategically silent when she thought it was appropriate. That she wasn’t always in control of her facial muscles is another issue. In any case, she was never arrogant.