A Growing Trend: Politicians Who Hate the People Who Elected Them

Minnesota governor Mark Dayton, ¡Jeb!, and Angela Merkel are examples of this trend. From The Guardian:

Is Angela Merkel’s exit strategy shaping German refugee policy? Christian Schnee

Suspending the vetting of Syrian migrants has made her unpopular, but the chancellor may be thinking more about leaving her mark on German and international politics

Tuesday 20 October 2015 12.06 EDT

What is driving Angela Merkel? This is the question on the lips of not just her usual critics, but also members of her own party. For the first decade of her chancellorship she took great care to tread carefully in domestic policies, always intent to avoid or assuage public opposition. Yet now, as if to mark her 10th anniversary in power, her strategy has radically changed.

Merkel’s suspension of the Dublin II accord and her decision to do away with all effective vetting of asylum applications submitted by Syrians looks certain to lead to an unprecedented number of migrants arriving in the country; according to the latest estimates, 1.5 million refugees are likely to have arrived in Germany in 2015 alone.

This has led not only to public criticism from protesters on the far right, but also to dissent within her own party. …

Another answer seems more likely. After a decade at the helm, Merkel may be looking for an exit strategy that earns her recognition among the international community of political leaders whose discourse she seems increasingly to prefer over the narrow-minded bickering among her local party officials and parliamentary members.

The most powerful people in the world feel that the only people who can really understand how they’ve suffered are the other most powerful people in the world.