The essay focuses on the linguistic representation of the concept of professionalism/unprofessionalism of modern politicians on the example of the description of lexical units indicating unprofessionalism of the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in the discourse of German-language media. The first part of the article considers the concepts of professionalism vs unprofessionalism; specialist, expert, professional vs unprofessional, dilettante; as well as the concept of professional diplomacy with regard to their reflection in German lexicography. The second part presents lexical units that realize in the discourse of German-language mass media besides the main nominative function also an additional deictic function, pointing to the diplomat's insufficiently high level of professional education, to her lack of basic knowledge of history, geography, mathematics and to Baerbock's professional stumble diplomacy. It is concluded that the study of lexical markers of professionalism/unprofessionalism of modern politicians in the media discourse is extremely important, as the year 2024 has been called “the mother of all election years” and “democratic Superbowl” due to the fact that the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2024 may change world politics.