A reflection on the German far right, Elon Musk’s interference in the German election, and why the MAGA-AfD alliance isn’t nearly as irresistible as they want us to believe
Thank you for taking the time to write this. The "primer" on the AfD puts the German election in clearer perspective for me, and connects the dots of different news stories I've heard in recent years (e.g., Le Pen's suddenly distancing her party from the AfD). And this: "For both Musk and Weidel, the market-fundamentalist anti-statism is driven partially by the plutocratic interests of the business right, and partially by the idea that state institutions have been taken over by radical leftist forces and therefore exist as the enemy’s power center." Such clear and trenchant analysis — as usual!
Thank you for calming my fears! Things aren’t what they were even 2 months ago but your insight helps to put things in perspective & that helps more than you might think.
We are losing our Democracy, in Europe and America beause the left has no answer to the immigration problem.
I consider myself a progressive, but we have to face reality.
There is an underlying problem that America and Europe has in common and that is race.
But it in Europe it is exacerbated by Culture.
Western culture and Islam are oil and water, they do not mix. Islam is especially triumphalist, not evangelical like Christianity but spreads by violence and fecundity.
Here is a fact swept under the rug and ignored by liberals. Orban came to office promising to basically eliminate the Muslim threat, and start by building a wall. He succceed, he built a wall and set about expelling Muslims.
When an ethnicity, a culture, a religion reaches 17% of the population, there is a culture shift.
The same thing happened in the U.S, but not with religion, necessarily, but a culture that elected Trump. Like it or not America is not Trumpistan
The Trump culture is by and large Christian, as are the migrants from the south. And give them five years to settle in and they would be voting Republican, because their culture is Christian conservative, patriarchal, anti abortion, anti gay.
The opposition in America is mainly race based, because the poor migrants aren't taking American jobs, they are doing jobs Americans don't want to do.. Except for Musk's H1b visa's from Asia that he and other tech bros can hire at below market wage, mistreat because they fear going back.
My point is that the rise of the right in Europe and America is fueled by the migrant problem, and it is getting worse with global warming.
And the liberal/left response of open borders, welcome one and all is accounting for the rise of the right and Germany and the AfD is an example.
Question then is what is more important, preserving western culture and any semblance of democracy,or acceptance of this flow of migrants and the culture war, and fascism that is bound to result.?
The war is already manifest in Europe, cars and trucks being driven into crowds, stabbings.
The reality is staring us in the face, and no one wants to face it, instead they blame economics, jobs, the price of eggs.
Inflation didn't elect Trump. The culture war did, from immigration to sexually frustrated young males.
The personal hypocrisy of the global far-right leaders is not uncommon. Trump — multiple divorces and extramarital affairs. Putin — divorced, extramarital affairs and family life that is kept secret. While for Trump and Putin this hypocrisy is usually brushed off by supporters who still hold to the ideological project. Alice Weidel stands out that her personal hypocrisy is being utilized to legitimize and whitewash the extreme right-wing ideology she promotes.
I am worried about Merz leading Germany in such complex times. I know that to many Germans he looks like a stronger leader than Scholz, and everyone was worried about Scholz standing up to Putin and Trump because he just comes across as so weak. However, Merz is inexperienced and the Germans that voted for him are clearly not thinking that it takes experience to run a country in a time as politically challenging as this. I am not that German. I did not vote for CDU, neither did my daughter. My husband did not register in time from the USA to be able to vote although he came here in time for the elections just in case the German Consulate in Chicago could get his application here in time. It did not!
I hear Merz speaking forcefully that Germany needs to go its own way, and supporting a strong EU that does not rely on the Americans and that I do agree with that. We need to support Ukraine. However, I find his immigration policies naive and opportunistic. People are willing to believe that monocultural Germany is better than multicultural Germany, but at the same time would like the economic benefits that come from attracting diverse people to the country.
I wrote a piece in which I tell Americans who are democratic not to travel to or move to communities in Germany that supported CDU and AfD in places 1 and 2. These are anti foreigners communities, and should therefore not benefit from foreign tourism and are less friendly places to live for non-Germans.
I am both a German and an American. I am a citizen and an immigrant since I mostly grew up in the USA. We are retiring in Germany because it has a better cost of living than the US. It is also safer. Also, our daughter is going to university here in Germany. However, the right wing growth is concerning not just because it is indicative of hatred, but also an ignorance that I do not want to be around. It makes Germany less safe. It makes it harder for people from other countries to integrate in. It adds a challenge that people can lazily say, our problems can be blamed on the others, just like Germany did back in the 1930s when they allowed Hitler to define the other as Jews and Communists, like Alice Weidel is not so subtly doing now.
Thanks for your very thorough take on German right wing politics Thomas. I totally agree that it is wrong to be defeatist. But, I am worried about Europe not standing up to Putin. Trump has already capitulated, which is an ongoing disaster, but, in my opinon, the Trump administration will self-destruct from sheer incompetence and stupidity. The problem is how long will it take and how much damage will they do in the mean time.
America Just Sided with Russia and North Korea—And the Fallout Is Chilling. The U.S. Vote at the U.N. Sent a Dangerous Message That Will Haunt Global Democracy. My Article Exposes the Truth—And What Happens Next.
Really interesting and, as always, beautifully written. Speaking of the absence-of-genius in these wretched people: What always "kills" me about Musk is that every tweet of his that I've seen seems like it was written by a 15-year-old trying to sound intelligent. To some lunatic bit of frothing he will reply, "This is correct." This jibes with the fact that, in his public appearances, he seems to have the emotional maturity of an adolescent. The chain saw, the jumping around, the way he told a stunned Andrew Ross Sorkin that businesses fleeing Twitter were "blackmailing" him. And don't get me started on colonizing Mars.
I've taught high school history for three and a half decades and can confirm that Musk's work "seems like it was written by a 15-year-old trying to sound intelligent."
A thoroughly enjoyable piece, Herr Zimmer! In my country (USA as it is currently known), we have a self-hating Jewish neo-Nazi named Stephen Miller whose intellect is only a bit above a goldfish. He loves to become hysterical on TV ranting about "American is for Americans...and everyone else should leave." I actually agree with him, because I suspect the USA would have been much better off is we had not slaughtered the original inhabitants (Clovis peoples). Unfortunately, he's just too dim-witted to understand this. But what about Wacky Weidel? Who does she want to stay behind after all the immigrants depart? Or is she enamored of a "final solution?"
Thank you for taking the time to write this. The "primer" on the AfD puts the German election in clearer perspective for me, and connects the dots of different news stories I've heard in recent years (e.g., Le Pen's suddenly distancing her party from the AfD). And this: "For both Musk and Weidel, the market-fundamentalist anti-statism is driven partially by the plutocratic interests of the business right, and partially by the idea that state institutions have been taken over by radical leftist forces and therefore exist as the enemy’s power center." Such clear and trenchant analysis — as usual!
Thank you for calming my fears! Things aren’t what they were even 2 months ago but your insight helps to put things in perspective & that helps more than you might think.
We are losing our Democracy, in Europe and America beause the left has no answer to the immigration problem.
I consider myself a progressive, but we have to face reality.
There is an underlying problem that America and Europe has in common and that is race.
But it in Europe it is exacerbated by Culture.
Western culture and Islam are oil and water, they do not mix. Islam is especially triumphalist, not evangelical like Christianity but spreads by violence and fecundity.
Here is a fact swept under the rug and ignored by liberals. Orban came to office promising to basically eliminate the Muslim threat, and start by building a wall. He succceed, he built a wall and set about expelling Muslims.
When an ethnicity, a culture, a religion reaches 17% of the population, there is a culture shift.
The same thing happened in the U.S, but not with religion, necessarily, but a culture that elected Trump. Like it or not America is not Trumpistan
The Trump culture is by and large Christian, as are the migrants from the south. And give them five years to settle in and they would be voting Republican, because their culture is Christian conservative, patriarchal, anti abortion, anti gay.
The opposition in America is mainly race based, because the poor migrants aren't taking American jobs, they are doing jobs Americans don't want to do.. Except for Musk's H1b visa's from Asia that he and other tech bros can hire at below market wage, mistreat because they fear going back.
My point is that the rise of the right in Europe and America is fueled by the migrant problem, and it is getting worse with global warming.
And the liberal/left response of open borders, welcome one and all is accounting for the rise of the right and Germany and the AfD is an example.
Question then is what is more important, preserving western culture and any semblance of democracy,or acceptance of this flow of migrants and the culture war, and fascism that is bound to result.?
The war is already manifest in Europe, cars and trucks being driven into crowds, stabbings.
The reality is staring us in the face, and no one wants to face it, instead they blame economics, jobs, the price of eggs.
Inflation didn't elect Trump. The culture war did, from immigration to sexually frustrated young males.
The personal hypocrisy of the global far-right leaders is not uncommon. Trump — multiple divorces and extramarital affairs. Putin — divorced, extramarital affairs and family life that is kept secret. While for Trump and Putin this hypocrisy is usually brushed off by supporters who still hold to the ideological project. Alice Weidel stands out that her personal hypocrisy is being utilized to legitimize and whitewash the extreme right-wing ideology she promotes.
Nicely tied together.
I am worried about Merz leading Germany in such complex times. I know that to many Germans he looks like a stronger leader than Scholz, and everyone was worried about Scholz standing up to Putin and Trump because he just comes across as so weak. However, Merz is inexperienced and the Germans that voted for him are clearly not thinking that it takes experience to run a country in a time as politically challenging as this. I am not that German. I did not vote for CDU, neither did my daughter. My husband did not register in time from the USA to be able to vote although he came here in time for the elections just in case the German Consulate in Chicago could get his application here in time. It did not!
I hear Merz speaking forcefully that Germany needs to go its own way, and supporting a strong EU that does not rely on the Americans and that I do agree with that. We need to support Ukraine. However, I find his immigration policies naive and opportunistic. People are willing to believe that monocultural Germany is better than multicultural Germany, but at the same time would like the economic benefits that come from attracting diverse people to the country.
I wrote a piece in which I tell Americans who are democratic not to travel to or move to communities in Germany that supported CDU and AfD in places 1 and 2. These are anti foreigners communities, and should therefore not benefit from foreign tourism and are less friendly places to live for non-Germans.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/german-election-results?r=f0qfn
I am both a German and an American. I am a citizen and an immigrant since I mostly grew up in the USA. We are retiring in Germany because it has a better cost of living than the US. It is also safer. Also, our daughter is going to university here in Germany. However, the right wing growth is concerning not just because it is indicative of hatred, but also an ignorance that I do not want to be around. It makes Germany less safe. It makes it harder for people from other countries to integrate in. It adds a challenge that people can lazily say, our problems can be blamed on the others, just like Germany did back in the 1930s when they allowed Hitler to define the other as Jews and Communists, like Alice Weidel is not so subtly doing now.
Thanks for your very thorough take on German right wing politics Thomas. I totally agree that it is wrong to be defeatist. But, I am worried about Europe not standing up to Putin. Trump has already capitulated, which is an ongoing disaster, but, in my opinon, the Trump administration will self-destruct from sheer incompetence and stupidity. The problem is how long will it take and how much damage will they do in the mean time.
America Just Sided with Russia and North Korea—And the Fallout Is Chilling. The U.S. Vote at the U.N. Sent a Dangerous Message That Will Haunt Global Democracy. My Article Exposes the Truth—And What Happens Next.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
https://jasonegenberg.substack.com/p/america-just-sided-with-russia-and
What a great read, informative, and in the end even a bit hopeful! Thank you for taking the time to outline this for us
Really interesting and, as always, beautifully written. Speaking of the absence-of-genius in these wretched people: What always "kills" me about Musk is that every tweet of his that I've seen seems like it was written by a 15-year-old trying to sound intelligent. To some lunatic bit of frothing he will reply, "This is correct." This jibes with the fact that, in his public appearances, he seems to have the emotional maturity of an adolescent. The chain saw, the jumping around, the way he told a stunned Andrew Ross Sorkin that businesses fleeing Twitter were "blackmailing" him. And don't get me started on colonizing Mars.
I've taught high school history for three and a half decades and can confirm that Musk's work "seems like it was written by a 15-year-old trying to sound intelligent."
The ketamine is adversely affecting his thinking, assuming you can call his statements evidence of thought.
A thoroughly enjoyable piece, Herr Zimmer! In my country (USA as it is currently known), we have a self-hating Jewish neo-Nazi named Stephen Miller whose intellect is only a bit above a goldfish. He loves to become hysterical on TV ranting about "American is for Americans...and everyone else should leave." I actually agree with him, because I suspect the USA would have been much better off is we had not slaughtered the original inhabitants (Clovis peoples). Unfortunately, he's just too dim-witted to understand this. But what about Wacky Weidel? Who does she want to stay behind after all the immigrants depart? Or is she enamored of a "final solution?"