In the shadow of Weimar's remembered chaos, Germany's founders built a chancellorship designed to endure political storms. Friedrich Merz now tests that design: with approval ratings collapsed to 13% and his party bloodied in state elections, Berlin asks whether a democratic system engineered for stability can — or should — compel a leader to reckon with his own diminishment. The constitution offers three exits, but none are being walked toward, leaving the tension between popular legitimacy and institutional durability unresolved.