Genuinely scary.
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Can confirm, am german and scared
You might want to consider going somewhere better and safer before the shit hits the fan. Ireland, for example, does not yet seem to be heavily affected by this sickness that is gradually spreading across Europe.
With news like this becoming more frequent, the future doesn't look bright at all for Germany.
Don't let this happen
tops the survey at 29%, up by one point compared to the last YouGov poll published last month.
Merz's conservative alliance, which comprises the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU), came second at 20% -
It doesn't matter. It's a cold strategy from the CDU. Extreme right voters are parked in the AfD with no access to power. CDU can demand anything from the other parties because the other parties don't get 50% together but CDU could switch and govern with AfD.
29%+20% is the absolute majority because the votes of parties smaller than 5% are dropped.
They do still have some time to pull back up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_German_federal_election
The Basic Law and the Federal Election Act [de] provide that regular federal elections must be held on a Sunday or on a national holiday[c] no earlier than 46 and no later than 48 months after the start of a legislative session. The 21st Bundestag was constituted on 25 March 2025 and has therefore been in session for 14 months. Accordingly, a scheduled federal election would have to take place on one of the following dates:
- 28 January 2029
- 4, 11, 18, 25 February 2029 or
- 4, 11, 18, 25 March 2029
So about two-and-a-half years.
Merz is literally a businessman. It benefits him. If he cared about Germany at all, he'd tackle the ever-rightward encroachment much more actively.
He could limit access to billionnaire-owned social media, mandate that social media use no polarising algorithms as default, reduce immigration without inhumane measures, reduce housing costs, help farmers transition to a greener economy, and so on.
It's interesting how Europe was seen as this much more tolerant and advanced society before the 2010s.
One little refugee crisis and they immediately made a hard right turn that made the American reaction to 9/11 seem tame by comparison.
What's even more interesting is when I consider how the Arab world's reaction and attitude to Israel was seen as backwards and pig headed - refusing to just let them be.
I now imagine if those Syrian refugees had declared their independence and created a break away state from another European country, what the response to that would be.
Probably lines up perfectly with the Arab world's reaction to Israeli independence.
No, its not a little refugee crisis that triggered this. It's the constant and relentless onslaught of propaganda on social media 24/7 that makes their victims live in a constant everything-crisis because they lost any contact to actual reality.
And that's not a European thing but a human one. There is basically no modern country not afraid of the rising crime rates (that don't exist), the scary streets in their once beautiful cities (that are actually safer than ever before), the rampant and uncontrolled wave of immigration (that only exists in their heads) and trying to replace them and destroy their way of life. Because they are all consuming the exact same brain rot that does exactly what the name suggests.
The best cure to fear is exposure and taking away the source of fear. Education, kicking off from social media, and so on.
The German people are increasingly sold on the idyllic and almost panacea-like dream of the supposed benefits of the Great Remigration promoted by the AfD with funding from billionaires and foreign powers with dubious intentions.
If there is no way to bring them back to sanity, so be it. Let the economic, institutional, social, and human cost that this and other measures of this party will inevitably lead to serve as a new example to future generations of what not to do.
The 30s will be miserable and cruel.
"being sold" implies actual plan and arguments to "sell" to their potential voters. Yet you can actually read straight from the AfD program and AfD voters will scream in your face how you are spreading lies and fake news.
So no, there is in fact no political way to bring them back because just like every far right cult they just went ape-shit crazy and would require extensive therapy just to be able to perceive reality again.
Read it again, then, because I don't disagree with you.
Unfortunately, everything indicates that Germany is destined to repeat the mistakes of their past.