Trump says Merkel ‘great’ leader, is ‘disappointed’ in refugee position

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday named Germany’s Angela Merkel as a world leader he admires, despite her “tragic” position on refugees.

“Well I think Merkel is a really great world leader, but I was very disappointed … with the whole thing on immigration, I think it’s a big problem,” Trump said in an interview with New England Cable News.

{mosads}”I was always a Merkel person, I thought [she was] really fantastic, but I think she made a very tragic mistake a year and a half ago,” Trump added, according to a transcript from an NBC News reporter.

Lately, Trump has derided Merkel for her push to accept refugees into her country, shifting his language on the German leader he previously praised.

Last month, he compared his presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, to the German chancellor, calling Clinton “America’s Angela Merkel” and criticizing both for wanting to admit refugees into their countries, an attack his campaign has echoed in statements and tweets.

Trump referred to Merkel as “probably the greatest leader in the world today” in an August 2015 interview with Time, calling her “fantastic” and “highly respected.”

But after Germany announced the number of refugees it would accept would grow to 800,000 for the year, the real estate magnate criticized her. And in December 2015, after Time named Merkel its “Person of the Year,” Trump sent a tweet accusing the magazine of picking a person who was “ruining Germany.”

Trump was asked Thursday to name a world leader he admires, after Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson struggled to name a single living foreign leader he admires. Johnson’s running mate, Bill Weld, jumped in during the joint interview and named Merkel as someone he admires.

Clinton got the same question on Thursday afternoon and the Democratic nominee also named Merkel as one of her favorite world leaders, calling her “an extraordinary, strong leader during difficult times in Europe” and praising her “steadiness” on the Euro crisis and “bravery” in the face of the refugee crisis.