I don't think we're in for a period of rearmament because I'm not sure that's where Chancellor Merkel, if she is re-elected, wants to go. I think she very much remains a transatlanticist. She just doesn't, like many others, have a lot of respect for Mr. Trump.
I do think Germany is the most important power in Europe and has been for more than a decade now. I would subscribe to The Economist's characterization of Chancellor Merkel as “the indispensable European”.
I think what you saw was simply a reaction to a particular personality who isn't necessarily going to be in the field. That German-American relationship is very important, although Mr. Trump, as my friend David Frum tweeted, has done more to divide Germany from the United States—the goal of Russian policy since the Second World War, first by the Soviet Union and now Russia—than Mr. Putin or any of his predecessors, but I think that will pass.
I think Chancellor Merkel gets that. Her comments at the party rally were done, I think, in the context of the upcoming German election. She has to win that election and, not surprisingly, leaders often want to play to the hometown crowd. That's reasonable. However, her subsequent comments and those of the people around her were to say that she very much understands the importance of the transatlantic relationship, as do we.