Friedrich Merz and the last chance for the democratic center: A report from within power Friedrich Merz faces enormous tasks. While Trump and Putin are destroying the old world order, the AfD threatens to blow up the political center in Germany. The new chancellor wants to govern very differently than the voted out traffic light coalition. The challenges that caused the traffic light to crash have remained the same: economic crisis, climate change, migration and rearmament of the Bundeswehr. Is Friedrich Merz, who has no government experience so far and is already taking office battered, up to his task? And what does he have to learn from the disaster of the traffic light in order to use what may be the last chance to save our democracy from the final rise of the extreme right? In this crucial phase of German politics, bestselling author Robin Alexander tells the story behind the scenes: from Merz's breaking of taboos with the AfD and secret talks with Olaf Scholz to the drama surrounding the trillion debt package. A grippingly narrated book that shows why political actors are less and less able to cope with the great challenges in a fragmented party landscape and a heated public.