#afd germany

[herpatrolllama]

Trump celebrates conservative party win in Germany

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[bbcnewsplus]

Markets relieved by German election result, but key industries remain mired in uncertainty

Germany’s election result delivered a jolt of optimism to lackluster markets at the start of the week, though the question of whether the new government can deliver promised higher public spending and reboot the economy continues to hang over the country’s beleaguered major industries.

Frankfurt’s DAX index gained 0.6% Monday, outpacing a flat U.K. FTSE 100 and 0.78% loss for France’s CAC 40, while the euro nudged higher against the U.S. dollar and British pound and German borrowing costs were little-changed.

Sunday’s vote delivered a victory for the conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU).

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[cksonjoy]

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German election results live: CDU’s Friedrich Merz claims win, AfD second

[munaeem]

The Fallout of Transatlantic Tensions

Hey there, friends! Grab your favorite beverage and settle in because we’re delving into the intriguing web of politics that binds Europe and the US. It’s a bit like that tangled string of fairy lights you try to unravel every holiday—lots of twists, turns, and potential shocks! Today, we’re breaking down the increasing friction over European self-reliance, the mysterious rise of right-wing…

[thearwenschild]

The Far Right is Rising in the Land of ‘Never Again’

Jan Böhmermann talks about the upcoming elections, the rise of the far-right Afd, and how a country can deal with our history and how we can never let it happen again.

[contemplatingoutlander]

All the Americans who died in WWII fighting fascism would be appalled by JD Vance's speech in Munich and his later meeting with the a neofascist AfD leader.

Vice President JD Vance urged European leaders on Friday to end the isolation of far-right parties across the continent, an extraordinary embrace of a once-fringe political movement with which the Trump administration shares a common approach on migration, identity and internet speech. [...] The vice president singled out his German hosts, telling them to drop their objections to working with a party that has often reveled in banned Nazi slogans and has been shunned from government as a result. He did not mention the party, the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, by name, but directly referred to the longstanding agreement by mainstream German politicians to freeze out the group, parts of which have been formally classified as extremist by German intelligence. “There is no room for firewalls,” Mr. Vance said, bringing some gasps in the hall. He punctuated the message by meeting on Friday with Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for chancellor in this month’s election, as well as other German leaders. [...] Mr. Vance aggressively challenged the diplomats in the hall in Munich, telling them that their biggest security threat was not from China or Russia, but “the enemy within” — what he called their suppression of abortion protests and other forms of free speech.

It was breathtakingly hypocritical for Vance to scold Europe for not being true to its democratic ideals--much less to do so in a speech delivered in Germany, which in the mid-20th century had lost its democratic institutions because some Germans allowed Nazis to get a foothold in their government.

If you give fascists an inch, they will take a mile.

In his speech, Vance was indignant that Europe has erected "firewalls" against far-right political parties. Ignoring the fact that fascism took over Germany through a democratic, legal process. Specifically, once he became prime minister, it only took Hitler and his Nazi cronies 53 days to destroy the Weimar Republic through legal, constitutional means.

Germany in particular KNOWS if they give fascists an inch, they will take a mile.

It doesn't help Vance's case that in less than a month's time, Trump, Musk, and MAGA Republicans have taken a sledgehammer in the U.S. to the law and the Constitution, and appear to be trying to establish an autocratic if not downright neofascist state.

No politician has a "mandate" if they were elected because of disinformation and lies.

Vance clutched his pearls that the Romanian government just nullified an election because it was proven that there was a deep Russian disinformation campaign to propel a far-right party into power.

Besides the fact that Vance hypocritically works for Trump who attempted "coup" to overturn a fair election, Vance wants the world to ignore the fact that any political candidate who is elected into power based on lies and disinformation is in fact NOT a representative of the will of the people because they were elected fraudulently (i.e., if they had told the truth, they might not have been elected).

Consider Trump. If he had not lied and distanced himself from the deeply unpopular Project 2025, but had instead said he planned on using it as a blueprint for his second term, how many of those swing state voters would have actually voted for him?

Therefore, Trump has NO mandate that reflects the "will of the people" not only because he was NOT elected by a majority of the voters (just a plurality) but because he lied about his true intentions for a second administration during his campaign.

[See more about how Vance hypocritically turns "free speech" on its head below the cut.]

Vance turns "free speech" on its head.

Vance took hypocrisy to a new level in his Munich remarks, when he talked about "free speech":

Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that. [...] You cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail, whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home, or a journalist trying to report the news. [emphasis added]

Well, what Vance said is laughable given that Trump, Musk & their cronies have been fully behind censorship of not only speech, but of ideas, which they have demonstrated by:

Purging federal departments of anything related to DEI, including any "words" such as "gender" or "diversity," and any personnel who have promoted those ideas, or who have even attended one diversity training years ago.

Threatening to prosecute private businesses that promote DEI or provide diversity training to their employees.

Purging the study of or mention of "climate change" from government websites.

Withholding government funds for public schools and even universities that teach subjects related to racism, sexism, and gender studies and (in the case of K-12 schools) who choose NOT to teach a whitewashed "patriotic history."

Threatening to go after the mainstream press if they criticize Trump or his policies too much. (Already he has cut access to the White House for the AP's refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America, and has kicked important news media like The New York Times from their offices in the Pentagon, replacing them instead with right-wing media outlets.

Threatening to use the DOJ to go after the "enemy within" (i.e., politicians who do not support what Trump is doing, regardless of political party).

And lets not forget Trump's purge of civil servants who have different political views, and who will not pledge loyalty to Trump over the Constitution.

Through all of the above, Trump, Vance, and other MAGA GOP have shown us that they have no problems stepping all over the freedom of speech/of the press protections of the First Amendment over and over again.

I could go on and on about the hypocrisy of that speech, but the bottom line is that JD Vance embarrassed our nation by what he said in Munich. He also presented the Trump administration as being firmly on the side of the far-right/neofascist political parties in Europe.

At this point, many europeans must see very little difference between the US under Trump and Russia under Putin.

How far we have fallen as a nation in less than one month.

_______________ Image sources (before edits/captions): WWII meme photo source; "Inch" gif video source; "No mandate" photo source; "Freedom of speech" image source.

[waytootiredstudent]

Why the CDU/CSU can go fuck itself

Time for another one of these. a quick(ish) summary for all the non-german speakers about why we're freaking out and the state of our democracy.

Spoiler. its not...good. Not catastrophic (yet). But the alarm bells are very, very loud.

Tl;dr: The CDU, party currently prognosed to win the election, has basically worked together with the afd to get a migrationbill to pass that is very strict. The afd are the nazi party that is getting backed by Musk. This might forshadow a cooperation between AFD and CDU. That would put the far right in power. The current response from the general public are demonstrations against that. Like. there are a LOT of protests currently.

Alright grab a drink and lets go.

First, groundwork: Who are parties and who is the guy we currently all want to punch in the face?

on top: Careful, risk of confusion. on the left: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. Real. On the right: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. comic figure.

This guy here is Friedrich Merz. no, not the guy on the right. the guy on the left. I know. Easy mistake to make.

He's an asshole. He's also the current boss of the CDU and their chancellor candidate. He's very likely to win according to recent polls.

The CDU has a complicated history, but to simplify it: They were in charge for sixteen years before the now broken apart Traffic-light goverment and are responsible for a lot of shit that we're currently dealing with. Like crumbling infrastructure for example. They were more interested, as a party, to preserve the status quo at all costs, than to invest anything. You could argue that a lot of the enviromental issues we are facing and the reason why Germany is currently pretty stagnant, can be traced back to the one and a half decade the CDU was in charge. They are conservative, not a fan of migration and like to throw around 'tradtional values'.

They are, generally speaking, or better were, center right. More on that later.

The other party that is going to be a major pain in the ass to outright fucking dangerous, is the AFD, short for 'Alternative for Germany'.

this is Alice Weidel, she's the current chancellor candidate for the afd. here is her wikipedia article and lets just say her 'controversies' part is longer than her 'political positions' part.

Those are the, to put it bluntly, Nazis. They are dangerous but also a fucking mess. Like, to just list a few of their hits: They've been getting money from dictators (different ones btw, not just one), infigthing is a sport to them, they try to glorify the nazi-regime, the german intelligence agency is watching them because they are officially considered radical right-wing and a threat to democracy, there is a petition to ban the afd and that is a high bar to cross, the demonize immigrants, hate queer people, you know, the usual. Also of course political correctness has gone too far and climate change isn't real and we need to leave the EU. Elon Musk, you know the rich guy who did the Nazi-salute, also has been appearing and is actively supporting them. Just in case we were unclear before on where they all stand.

(btw the whole 'elon is supporting them' thing is pretty scary bc you could argue the reason that the afd is able to win so many votes is bc, frankly, they're good at social media. Do i need to elaborate why that is a dangerous combination.)

to put them into perspective: The afd is too right for the other alt-right parties in the EU parlament. There is a coalition in the EU Parlament for the right, made up of all the right wing parties from other nations and the afd is too right for them. So. yeeeeaaah.

that should do it as background information.

Now. back to current events. where both of these parties are getting more and more support.

For a short history of why we currently have a non-functioning goverment, i made a post about that. Be aware that it was made as a product of its time and doesn't have all the information. For example back then we didn't know that FDP had actively engineered that break up and wanted it to happen for a while. Yes. They wanted to topple the goverment they were in. on purpose. It's been a fun time over here in Germany as well.

anyways, lets get to the meat of things. Since we don't have a functional goverment currently, Merz has introduced a harsh migration bill. This has been in the wake of an attack with two murders, where the current suspect is a migrant. while this is a tragedy, its getting brutally misused by all out rightwing parties to scream about how we need stricter migration laws and that migrants are a danger. Which to be so fucking clear about this, is such bullshit. It's been proven so many times how that is bullshit. I'm gonna be real and not even bother. They're just the newest scapegoats everything can be blamed on.

But because nobody has a majority, all attempts at governing so far have been pretty stalled.

(our goverment currently)

Quick information from the past:

in 2018 the CDU basically stated they wouldn't, in any sort of way, cooperate with the AFD, declaring basically a Brandmauer (fire wall). This basically means that yes, the afd had been given seats in the parlament, but nobody would give them any power whatsoever.

This has been the position of the cdu. It is why people still considered them center-right.

Merz has repeatedly said he didn't care who voted with him. now with a slight majority, 348 to 344, the cdu has won, with the support of the afd. Many see this as the fall of the Brandmauer. It's not good. Merz has more and more talking points that sound exactly like the afd and that is SCARY. There is still a vivid memory alive here about why having a far-right goverment is dangerous. There is a reason why there are currently a lot of massive protests all over the country loudly proclaiming that 'never again is now'.

This also puts for many the cdu from 'center right' to 'right'. There are calls from inside the cdu to 'stop demonizing the afd'. This is scary. This could mean that we get not just a conservative goverment in a few weeks, but a rightwing one. One who is comfortable cooperating with radical right wingers if it suits their needs. To cooperate with a party that even our own intelligence agencies consider a threat to our democrazy.

So. that is why your german mutuals sit there like

Now. To another part. What exactly is that migration bill merz had wanted to pass so desperateldy?

Well first of all it calls for a national emergency, using the beforementioned murder as reasoning, for the danger of immigration. It calls for closing and controls at the borders permanently, not temporary as is curently the case. They want for people without valid ID to be refused entry, even when they are searching safety. People that are already in Germany but need to leave should be thrown in jail until they actually leave.

Which. just to be clear about this. this what the bill they had, that had the support of the afd, says. This is not a wish list. This what they want to be law.

But to be also clear, lots of this is against our current law, against Basic EU law and principle and also a pretty big violation of our constituation.

Which is what makes this situation so fatal. This bill is going to be fought. In court, in politics, with demonstrations on the streets. this bill is controversial. Merz knew that. he knew that a lot of this wouldn't pass. This is a publicly stunt. This is testing the waters. How much will the public allow? how far can he push? Is cooperation with the afd possible for him? How does everyone react?

It was never about immigration or that bill. All the people this is going to impact, all the lives that are going to be lost because of this shit they are pulling - this is to them all just collateral. Its testing how much is possible, tolerated even. The chances of this bill making it law is slim. It needs to pass again in a different body of the goverment with a two thirds majority and that is nowhere in sight.

Also, lets take a look at who voted what:

it was about four votes. So my german friends who also read this - look at this and be aware of who voted what. Who abstained to vote and gave up the four votes it would have taken to stop this. who accepted that to get what they want they would need to get the support of the afd, no matter how much Merz now claims that he still doesn't cooperate with the afd and that there were no talks between them. Look at the numbers. Look how and with who they voted.

To be frank, i am pretty pissed off. I don't think much about wallowing in self-pity and despair. i am pissed off about what is happening. i am pissed off that these people don't have a spine, i am pissed off at the FDP for enabling this in the first place, i am pissed off that we have Nazis in out goverment, i am pissed off that we have people who are willing to cooperate with them. I am pissed off that i need to settle for damage control instead of being able to see something finally move forward.

Now here we come to the less depressing part of this whole thing. And i want you to pay attention to it.

People are protesting. loudly. And in the thousands. There have been ten to a hundred thousands of people all over the country in the last week, protesting against the rise of faschism and the far right. Its all over the country, in different cities. Where the afd appears to talk, so do the protesters. There are 35 afd people to 1300 protesters. People loudly say 'never again is now'. And they show up to back that claim up.

This shit is vile, yes, but it's not going to be unopposed.

I know this all reads as depressing as fuck but do not give into the temptation of falling into despair. This is far from over. Yes those are the alarm bells and they are ringing loudly. But there is still things that can be done. Don't let the afd lure you into thinking this all pointless anyways. It's not. This is all not good, yes, but no reason to fall into blind panic. The bill isn't law yet. Merz is facing massive backlash for his little stunt. This is not a hopeless situation. It's just a shitty one.

[mothmans-cumrag]

Meine Mutter meinte am Sonntag, sie hat zwar in ihrem Leben noch nie CDU gewählt, aber diesmal sieht sie keinen anderen Ausweg, die Nazis zu verhindern. Die Linke wäre ihr zwar lieber, die Grünen erst recht, aber nicht mal bei der SPD sieht sie Chancen. Das einzige das sie von dieser Verzweiflungstat noch abhalten kann, wäre ein SPD Hoch in den Umfragen vor der Wahl, damit sie sichergehen kann dass ihre Kinder (2/3 von uns sind trans*) ihre Rechte behalten und eine GroKo zustande kommt. Dass höchstwahrscheinlich die CDU Platz 1 und die AfD Platz 2 sein wird ist uns, denke ich, allen klar. Jetzt gilt, fürchte ich Schadebsbegrenzung. Anyway:

Bitte rebloggen für sample size und damit ich meine Mutter überzeugen kann, SPD zu wählen (Sätze die ich nie gedacht hätte, dass ich sie sage)

[saywhat-politics]

Elon Musk seemingly endorsed the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Friday.

The big picture: The X owner has used his social media platform to promote his own ideologies. Since gaining more influence in the incoming Trump administration, the billionaire CEO appears to be exercising that power over politics in the U.S. and abroad.

Musk has shown recent support for other European right-wing populist politicians, including Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and British politician Nigel Farage, who is big Trump champion in the U.K.

Driving the news: "Only the AfD can save Germany," Musk posted on X.

His message was in response to a post from German right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt, criticizing conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz.

Context: Germany will hold a snap election in February, after a center-left coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.

AfD became the first far-right party this year to win a regional election in Germany since World War II.

[munaeem]

Hey, Let’s Talk Politics: What’s Brewing Across the Atlantic?

Hey, you! Yeah, the one who’s curious about politics but doesn’t have the patience to scroll X all day or decode CNN’s ticker tape. Pull up a chair—let’s chat about what’s shaking up the world right now. It’s February 21, 2025, and the vibes between the U.S. and Europe? Tense, my friend. Think of it like a family reunion where everyone’s smiling through gritted teeth, pretending the…

[dead-salmon]

anscheinend ist der mann, der das attentat in magdeburg vollübt hat:

aus saudi-arabien stammend

arzt in einem klinikum, seit ~10 Jahren?

ein afd-ler

islamophobisch

und hat über das jahr hinweg auf twitter seine tat angekündigt, die posts wurden auch gemeldet, man wundert sich, was da mit den posts passiert ist .. (richtig! nichts!)

in conclusion, die afd hat das sofort für ihre hetz-kampagne genutzt hat, nur damit jetzt rauskommt, dass das einer von ihnen ist

[miriammctroi]

Fun little German updat:

We had voting day yesterday and the Nazis are now the 2nd strongest party in the Parliament.

You know, the one with the homophobic, racist lesbian with the Sri Lankan wife, and the history teacher who keeps accidentally repeating Nazi slogans with his little Hitler haircut. The one Musk has been loudly supporting and whose homophobic lesbian leader said Hitler was a communist.

And the conservatives are the strongest party which is its own little hell

[isitandwonder]

[the-only-hope-for-me-is-coffee]

america centered ass website. europe goes downhill and noone even knows about it on here. anyway fuck afd and fuck everyone who voted against democracy in the european parliament elections.

[justarocknrollclownxd]

are there any Germans here?

[sgiandubh]

A statement

From S's IG stories - the 💖emoji superimposed by himself on The Guardian's shared reel about a protest near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (January 25, 2025). The event was organized in response to Elon Musk's more than questionable statements in support of Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Neo-Nazi party.

On behalf of all my fellow Europeans, thank you, this time. Very much welcome, as the ghost of Munich's Beer Hall Putsch roams our continent, with a vengeance.

The turmoil is real and this statement is honest. The trolls will probably not share it, simply because this is out of their reach, understanding and scope.

Let it be known, though. Now that is something very brave, especially when taking into account the general atmosphere (dour enough) and his own circumstances (no future projects apparently in sight). Noted and commended as such.

PS: thank you, sweetheart, for letting me know. You know who you are.