In the aftermath of his party's election victory, Christian Democrat leader Friedrich Merz charted a course for Germany in a Europe that must be independent of the United States, telling an interviewer that the pre-election “intervention from Washington was no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less outrageous, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow,”--a reference to forays by Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance into German politics. In this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson examine the German election, the impact of Elon Musk on politics from Berlin to Washington, and the latest reporting on Russian hybrid warfare.