It appears that every 5th or 2nd German likes them a lot, depending on the state. Why is that?
Is Russia going the have Soviets 2.0 where this time the Orthodox Church is part of the administration and Germany will be Nazi Germany 2.0 but this time Jews and Homosexuals are welcome?
Are you sure about that? Landslide surely implies dissatisfaction with the others but it also implies tolerance. Apparently Germany will give it a go. The turnout is extremely high, they didn’t just not go voting, they actively showed up for AfD.
Since I live in a area with high AfD support, yes I am sure that they don't "like" this party in the usual sense you would use that word. For some it is rather cult like, they are united in hate, in not much else. If they really would succed and take power - they would start bloody infighting very, very quickly (it shows quite often already).
Calling it a cult fits quite well. Like Trump supporters, AfD can do anything. They do a different style of politics? Sure, they aren’t like the “old parties”, their budget is projected to have a 2 billion deficit? But the “old parties” are increasing the debt as well. Arguments are bent beyond recognition. Facts don’t matter.
The term “pigeon chess” was coined for taking with AfD: while you comply to the strict rules of the game, the pigeon just randomly moves pieces, throwing some off, and shits on the board.
How much would you say that US billionaires can be credited for this? It’s very weird to watch US billionaires, UK right wingers, Putin and other long time rulers seem like having a group chat and being in sync.
Not much probably, the sentiment existed before, but Musk's support for instance did made an impact. You know, richest man supporting a party, and poor people thinking, oh, I also want to be associated with being rich and I also am angry at X. It made more people seriously considering them I suppose.
You’re probably right but how come the solution for their(any anti establishment across EU and US) problems always somehow involves being on good terms with Russia? How those groups of people have become natural allies? Is it some psyche? For example I noticed that pro-Russian people often don’t accept agency beyond “the west”, the russian, the jews, the British and the Americans and their solutions revolve around accepting the superiority of Russia and not being persuaded by the sneaky Brits, West, Jews. That’s why their solution to the war in Europe is just West not attacking Russia and let Russia have what is rightfully theirs. Just really weird school of thought that denies agency.
I heard some really weird stuff about Ukrainians from some people, some of them otherwise very much not right-wing, and I can only attribute it to the internet. They certainly wouldn't give me a real source for where they got that from, but kinda just dropped it and moved to something else.
Oversimplificated, they are just oversimplificated. The world is good and bad. The current establishment of government they know is clearly bad to them, so the enemy of their enemy must be a friend and part of good then.
But speaking of it, Putin was stationed as a KGB officer in saxony in the cold war(allegedly being responsible for radical west german left terrorists) and speaks german. I surely noticed lot's of russian propaganda channels. They became a big thing during Corona and became obvious russian (at least to some), when the channels that propagated antivaxx before suddenly reported anti Ukrainian propaganda and also openly support for the russian aggression.
> I feel so angry with and ashamed of my own country in a way I cannot even find words for.
I feel so angry and ashamed for what the EU bureaucrats and politicians have done to the EU.
Many people do feel like me. I'm not german but I know that half of that region didn't suddenly wake up "neo-nazis": they're people who are fed up with what the politicians have done to their countries.
You cannot change abruptly systems / countries / cultures by flooding them massively with migrants from different cultures by the tens of millions and expect the entirety of the population to, like you, beg for more.
Maybe they woke up one day and realized that the tolerance offered to neo-Nazis had been increasing steadily, and a tipping point had been reached where they could finally be themselves in public? I mean if you want to do what we (the US) did and pretend that this is all about economic and social anxiety go ahead, but you're going to learn the same lesson we did too:
Some people have never changed, only hidden, and now they're coming out. They've been trying since day one, but enough of the people who remember the bad old days are dead, and everyone needs to relearn the cyclical lesson once again. Usually it doesn't take a major war, hopefully this time won't either.
Very simple. Being poorer than neighbours makes you angry. Then you vote for those who can bring misery to everyone so when everyone is screwed you will be fine again. Of course there are natural reasons for being poorer than neighbours - brain drain, geopolitical and economical changes. No government can help for some people, as those are unable to accept help, as they will sabotage any effort for one reason or another. In a sense it's inevitable, the entropy produces this pockets of isolated misery, which build upon itself, like dark matter does. Eventually the gases need to be released to produce a new equilibrium, sometimes in some sort of big bang
> In a fracturing political landscape, the AfD is now Germany’s most popular party nationally, though other parties have ruled out forging coalitions with the AfD in a policy known as the “firewall.”
What exactly went wrong for this catastrophe to happen?
Wrong? It's not politicians misleading people. People want this. Normal people are not "good" or "pure", they like many bad tings and Germany is a democracy.
> What exactly went wrong for this catastrophe to happen?
The AfD's only selling point is that they'll end immigration.
Here's what happened: 2.6 migrants coming to Germany in 2022 alone. Net migration into Germany in 2022: +1.4 million.
There are many germans (and many people in the EU) who don't like to see mass-migration from Africa and the middle east.
It's those who let that happen (and pushed for it) who are responsible for people voting for extremist political parties.
The same is happening in France and even Gabriel Attal (ex french prime minister) said France failed to control both its legal and illegal migration and that now he wants to only allow in migrants who are coming to actually work (Gabriel Attal is probably going to be a candidate to be the next french president).
You cannot look at the AfD and say "bad AfD" / "evil neo-nazis germans who voted for them" and not take a cold hard look at what happened with migration in the EU these last years.
Burden of the unification, where the eastern states are still lagging in many areas, got the ball rolling. Pent up dissatisfaction. Eventually it rolled over to the rest of the country with COVID, stagnant economy, social media FUD etc. A lot of the same forces that drove Trump's election. People are afraid and dissatisfied, but they cannot really say why. I know, I try to listen to them. "Our educational system is falling apart". I have two kids in school, the opportunities they get are awesome compared to what I had.
It's difficult to convince people in an idea if your goals are noble. If they are not, it's a lot simpler. The basic fear is that they will lose what they have right now and are easily manipulated into magnifying those fears.
I fully agree, but I think you forgot social media as a catalyst. People being trapped in echo chambers. AfD (and all the associated conspiracy theorists) are classical con men.
Probably not, right? I mean, unless they're criticism is that they totally would love to teach their kid all these things much better than they do in school, but the kid won't accept homeschooling in the afternoon when it already went to school in the morning, but I kinda doubt that's their issue.
Anyways, thanks and kudos for talking to and listening to them. I think our society really fucked up in that regard. I have to think of things as old as "Deine Gewalt ist nur ein stummer Schrei nach Liebe.... ARSCHLOCH!", if you know what I mean... then we rested on being better than the poor conspiracy theorists and "Covidioten" and whatever. Rarely do we try to work with people we find "too disagreeable". And now we have the salad :(
Misleading title. The correct title is: Germany’s far-right AfD projected to win eastern state but unclear if it will be able to govern
Please fix.
I feel so angry with and ashamed of my own country in a way I cannot even find words for.
Merz is von Papen 2.0. The same arrogance and overestimation of himself, a textbook old white man.
Wir haben unter Schmutzatmosphäre verkackt.
Besser kann ich's nicht unter schonender Schutzatmosphäre verpacken.
It appears that every 5th or 2nd German likes them a lot, depending on the state. Why is that?
Is Russia going the have Soviets 2.0 where this time the Orthodox Church is part of the administration and Germany will be Nazi Germany 2.0 but this time Jews and Homosexuals are welcome?
They don't like them. They just hate everything established more. Reasons: Migration Crisis, Corona, ... bitterness about the world in general.
Are you sure about that? Landslide surely implies dissatisfaction with the others but it also implies tolerance. Apparently Germany will give it a go. The turnout is extremely high, they didn’t just not go voting, they actively showed up for AfD.
Since I live in a area with high AfD support, yes I am sure that they don't "like" this party in the usual sense you would use that word. For some it is rather cult like, they are united in hate, in not much else. If they really would succed and take power - they would start bloody infighting very, very quickly (it shows quite often already).
Calling it a cult fits quite well. Like Trump supporters, AfD can do anything. They do a different style of politics? Sure, they aren’t like the “old parties”, their budget is projected to have a 2 billion deficit? But the “old parties” are increasing the debt as well. Arguments are bent beyond recognition. Facts don’t matter. The term “pigeon chess” was coined for taking with AfD: while you comply to the strict rules of the game, the pigeon just randomly moves pieces, throwing some off, and shits on the board.
How much would you say that US billionaires can be credited for this? It’s very weird to watch US billionaires, UK right wingers, Putin and other long time rulers seem like having a group chat and being in sync.
Not much probably, the sentiment existed before, but Musk's support for instance did made an impact. You know, richest man supporting a party, and poor people thinking, oh, I also want to be associated with being rich and I also am angry at X. It made more people seriously considering them I suppose.
You’re probably right but how come the solution for their(any anti establishment across EU and US) problems always somehow involves being on good terms with Russia? How those groups of people have become natural allies? Is it some psyche? For example I noticed that pro-Russian people often don’t accept agency beyond “the west”, the russian, the jews, the British and the Americans and their solutions revolve around accepting the superiority of Russia and not being persuaded by the sneaky Brits, West, Jews. That’s why their solution to the war in Europe is just West not attacking Russia and let Russia have what is rightfully theirs. Just really weird school of thought that denies agency.
I heard some really weird stuff about Ukrainians from some people, some of them otherwise very much not right-wing, and I can only attribute it to the internet. They certainly wouldn't give me a real source for where they got that from, but kinda just dropped it and moved to something else.
Oversimplificated, they are just oversimplificated. The world is good and bad. The current establishment of government they know is clearly bad to them, so the enemy of their enemy must be a friend and part of good then.
But speaking of it, Putin was stationed as a KGB officer in saxony in the cold war(allegedly being responsible for radical west german left terrorists) and speaks german. I surely noticed lot's of russian propaganda channels. They became a big thing during Corona and became obvious russian (at least to some), when the channels that propagated antivaxx before suddenly reported anti Ukrainian propaganda and also openly support for the russian aggression.
> I feel so angry with and ashamed of my own country in a way I cannot even find words for.
I feel so angry and ashamed for what the EU bureaucrats and politicians have done to the EU.
Many people do feel like me. I'm not german but I know that half of that region didn't suddenly wake up "neo-nazis": they're people who are fed up with what the politicians have done to their countries.
You cannot change abruptly systems / countries / cultures by flooding them massively with migrants from different cultures by the tens of millions and expect the entirety of the population to, like you, beg for more.
Maybe they woke up one day and realized that the tolerance offered to neo-Nazis had been increasing steadily, and a tipping point had been reached where they could finally be themselves in public? I mean if you want to do what we (the US) did and pretend that this is all about economic and social anxiety go ahead, but you're going to learn the same lesson we did too:
Some people have never changed, only hidden, and now they're coming out. They've been trying since day one, but enough of the people who remember the bad old days are dead, and everyone needs to relearn the cyclical lesson once again. Usually it doesn't take a major war, hopefully this time won't either.
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The only question is if they get 42 votes required for simple majority in Saxony-Anhalt, or maybe just 39 votes.
More critical will be, whether BSW will make their 5% because they would help the AfD to get power (they said so clearly).
For those who don't know Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is batshit crazy "left-authoritarian" far-left party.
Demonstrating the in my opinion not so well working left-right as a meaningful political description as a concept in general.
Very simple. Being poorer than neighbours makes you angry. Then you vote for those who can bring misery to everyone so when everyone is screwed you will be fine again. Of course there are natural reasons for being poorer than neighbours - brain drain, geopolitical and economical changes. No government can help for some people, as those are unable to accept help, as they will sabotage any effort for one reason or another. In a sense it's inevitable, the entropy produces this pockets of isolated misery, which build upon itself, like dark matter does. Eventually the gases need to be released to produce a new equilibrium, sometimes in some sort of big bang
Are you talking about Africa and the Middle East?
> In a fracturing political landscape, the AfD is now Germany’s most popular party nationally, though other parties have ruled out forging coalitions with the AfD in a policy known as the “firewall.”
What exactly went wrong for this catastrophe to happen?
Wrong? It's not politicians misleading people. People want this. Normal people are not "good" or "pure", they like many bad tings and Germany is a democracy.
"What exactly went wrong for this catastrophe to happen?"
Many things.
"most popular party nationally"
But not as bad as it sounds, because we have many different parties, and the majority is not AfD.
> What exactly went wrong for this catastrophe to happen?
The AfD's only selling point is that they'll end immigration.
Here's what happened: 2.6 migrants coming to Germany in 2022 alone. Net migration into Germany in 2022: +1.4 million.
There are many germans (and many people in the EU) who don't like to see mass-migration from Africa and the middle east.
It's those who let that happen (and pushed for it) who are responsible for people voting for extremist political parties.
The same is happening in France and even Gabriel Attal (ex french prime minister) said France failed to control both its legal and illegal migration and that now he wants to only allow in migrants who are coming to actually work (Gabriel Attal is probably going to be a candidate to be the next french president).
You cannot look at the AfD and say "bad AfD" / "evil neo-nazis germans who voted for them" and not take a cold hard look at what happened with migration in the EU these last years.
Immigration in Saxony-Anhalt is the lowest in Germany, not that anyone cares.
Burden of the unification, where the eastern states are still lagging in many areas, got the ball rolling. Pent up dissatisfaction. Eventually it rolled over to the rest of the country with COVID, stagnant economy, social media FUD etc. A lot of the same forces that drove Trump's election. People are afraid and dissatisfied, but they cannot really say why. I know, I try to listen to them. "Our educational system is falling apart". I have two kids in school, the opportunities they get are awesome compared to what I had.
It's difficult to convince people in an idea if your goals are noble. If they are not, it's a lot simpler. The basic fear is that they will lose what they have right now and are easily manipulated into magnifying those fears.
I fully agree, but I think you forgot social media as a catalyst. People being trapped in echo chambers. AfD (and all the associated conspiracy theorists) are classical con men.
> I know, I try to listen to them. "Our educational system is falling apart"
Are they aware that the AfD wants to introduce homeschooling?
https://www.news4teachers.de/2026/05/afd-will-schulpflicht-f...
Probably not, right? I mean, unless they're criticism is that they totally would love to teach their kid all these things much better than they do in school, but the kid won't accept homeschooling in the afternoon when it already went to school in the morning, but I kinda doubt that's their issue.
Anyways, thanks and kudos for talking to and listening to them. I think our society really fucked up in that regard. I have to think of things as old as "Deine Gewalt ist nur ein stummer Schrei nach Liebe.... ARSCHLOCH!", if you know what I mean... then we rested on being better than the poor conspiracy theorists and "Covidioten" and whatever. Rarely do we try to work with people we find "too disagreeable". And now we have the salad :(
Kladderadatsch!