The Trump Show co-starring Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders and the casts of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News has to be the goofiest political mini-series ever broadcast. It has the feel of a summer replacement series certain to be cancelled before the regular season. Still, the popularity of the show and its stars is worrisome to many.   Maybe it has a longer life than anyone thought. The ratings are awfully good.

At the same time, weirdly, the most successful democratically elected leader in the world is taking heat for being too boring.

Angela Merkel has been head of her party since 2000 and Germany’s chancellor since 2005. She has been re-elected twice since, in 2009 and 2013. That’s the longest reign of any leader of the world’s big democracies.

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