Donald Trump must have done something right in his first foreign trip as president because he provoked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to let slip how she really feels about running Europe.

Visibly fatigued from a round of summits where she had to deal with an American president she couldn’t wrap around her little finger, Merkel went to a political rally in Munich to tell her cheering supporters that “we Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”

America, she implied, was no longer a “reliable” ally. “The times in which we could fully rely on others is somewhat over,” she told the throng in a beer tent.

Richard Haass, the head of the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted in alarm, “Merkel saying Europe cannot rely on others & needs to take matters into its own hands is a watershed-& what US has sought to avoid since WW2.”

Anyone who has studied history knows that Haass’s alarm is not misplaced. But the sad truth is that Germany’s latest effort to extend its domination over Europe has been going on for years, and the U.S. has been neither willing nor able to stop it.

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German reunification in 1990 ended any chance that France or Britain would be able to counterbalance the largest country in the European Union. The introduction of the euro EURUSD, -0.06% at the turn of the century, complete with a central bank under Berlin’s thumb in Frankfurt, gave Germany the tool it needed to enforce its discipline across the continent.

Anyone who thinks the new Germany won’t use this tool ruthlessly hasn’t been paying attention as Merkel and company threw aside Greece’s elected government like a rag doll, subjected the Greek people to wringing austerity so that German banks could be repaid in full, and are now proceeding to strip Greece’s public assets in a forced “privatization” program.

Now that British voters have elected to leave the EU and French voters have installed a compliant new president, Merkel is freer than ever to force her will upon the entire continent.

France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen was right when she observed trenchantly in her presidential debate with Emmanuel Macron that after the election “France will be led by a woman, either me or Mrs. Merkel.”

It may be that Macron will turn out to be smart enough and tough enough to match Merkel, but right now he looks like a younger, fresher version of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, derided as a lapdog to Merkel.

The fact that Macron has appointed German speakers as his prime minister, defense minister and chief foreign policy adviser may be, as the New York Times clucked approvingly, the sign of a cooperative spirit in France, but it could also be viewed as a new Vichy regime, ready to take orders in the hegemon’s language.

Merkel’s spokesman was quick to qualify her remarks in Munich, and make it clear that Merkel remained as committed to the trans-Atlantic alliance as ever. Germany is in no hurry to actually pay its fair share of the costs of its defense — it would destroy the balanced budget they love to boast about.

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When Trump has the temerity to call the Germans out on this, he gets lambasted for upsetting the applecart — or maybe one should say gravy train.

And when Trump goes after Germany for its unfair advantages in trade and its running up a mammoth current-account surplus, he is only repeating critiques from every economist at every acronym in the alphabet soup of international organizations, as well as from former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and other officials of the Obama administration — none of which has had any effect whatsoever on Germany’s actions.

Haass and the rest of the foreign-policy establishment lament the disruptive effect Trump has on their network of interlocking bureaucracies. “Those giving Potus kudos for getting thru trip w/o major gaffe/incident missing the point,” Haass tweeted on Sunday, “the trip weakened core elements of post-WW2 order.”

Let’s face it — World War II has been over for more than 70 years and maybe some of these “elements” have outlived their usefulness or need substantial revamping.

Some commentators, like the BBC, were eager to put Merkel’s Munich remarks in the context of her campaign for re-election, drumming up voter enthusiasm with a little Trump-thumping. Others, like the Guardian, were embarrassingly gushing in their admiration. Both might be dangerously facile given the longer term trends in Germany and Europe.

As Merkel seeks a fourth term — which she seems certain to get — there is reason to be concerned, even alarmed, at her declaration of independence. She is likely to finish out that new term, extending her reign to 16 years, and, who knows, may feel entitled to seek a fifth term.

Most Western democracies wisely limit terms for their government heads — or like Britain have a democracy robust enough that even popular prime ministers like Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair cap out at about 10 years.

The crisis of World War II was probably a good reason for Franklin Roosevelt to stay in office so long, and even former Chancellor Helmut Kohl might have been justified to stay in office four terms to see through German reunification.

But there is no evident reason for a healthy democracy in peacetime to keep Merkel in power as long as she has been. German democracy, in fact, after Merkel’s skillful machinations, does not look particularly healthy, and democracy at the EU level looks morbidly sick.

These simple facts should make us all concerned, and they didn’t start with Merkel’s declaration on Sunday. Nor have all the core elements of postwar order stopped Germany’s rise to domination. It seems to be time for a new approach, and maybe Trump deserves some credit for that.