AfD and the BSW, the AfD for the left, should not rejoice too soon. It's not election day yet, and there is still a coalition in Thuringia that can do without Björn Höcke and Sahra Wagenknecht. When the Thuringian AfD chairman describes this alliance as a “community of loot” between the CDU, SPD and the state BSW, the term probably applies much more to himself and the BSW chairwoman, who have been calling for a duel or to elect a prime minister for days. They distribute the bear's fur before it is killed.
However, the two have initially failed to drive the coalition in Erfurt apart. There are two dissenters, but the government stands. The break in the coalition should be the Thuringian fanfare for what to expect after the elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the fall. Wagenknecht won't back down. She will keep the issue simmering until the special party conference of the Thuringian regional association, accompanied by defamatory comments from the AfD against the Thuringian Prime Minister.
Defamation campaign against Voigt
The AfD and BSW are also working together on this matter, the revocation of Mario Voigt's doctorate. The BSW is using it – why only now? – a plagiarism scandal that was started by the AfD two years ago. One might accuse Voigt of not cutting a happy figure. He has a sore point. But the way in which the AfD is agitating against him and how the BSW now wants to benefit from it has the characteristics of a smear campaign.
Is this what the “culture” looks like, which is supposed to liberate the German mind from left-green old parties from Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt? Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD's leading candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, will not necessarily be enthusiastic about the turmoil in the neighboring country. His ambitions for the office of Prime Minister in Magdeburg ultimately depend on being completely different from the competition from the “cartel parties”.
Höcke, Siegmund and Wagenknecht behave in exactly the same way as they defame these parties: intrigues and power fantasies, hypocrisy and cunning, nepotism and post-hiring according to the party book. They also have the privilege of not having any of this harm them. They are forgiven, just as they are forgiven for describing the defenders of a free Ukraine as warmongers or right-wing terrorists as innocent victims.
The firewall has no future
The smoke smells so bad from beyond the fire wall that you couldn't ask for it to be higher. But part of the work of Höcke and Wagenknecht is that they broke the taboo of this wall. It has never had a future given the AfD's lasting strength, which has been furthered by years of exclusion. In Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt - other countries could follow - this strategy now threatens to turn against itself. The AfD could possibly do it alone – or with the help of the BSW.
The populism of the right and the left would have formed a completely logical alliance. Their success is based not only on their own strength, but on the weakness of their opponents, which can be better studied in the federal government than in the states. Because they depend on each other and are tied to each other for better or for worse, the CDU, CSU and SPD must defend policies that violate their intentions, plans and announcements.
For a long time this only worked because clear intentions and bold plans were not considered necessary. The result can be seen today - not only in terms of the state of the country, but also in terms of the state of the political landscape. What Friedrich Merz tackled in one year was not tackled in 16 years of Merkel's government and four years of traffic lights. Is it his fault that this might be too much? Those who profited from disappointed expectations now have an easy time turning the Chancellor into a failure. The insecure CDU, in which many are impressed by this, should not take part in this set-up game.
This also includes ignoring the malicious siren songs from the AfD and the Left Party. After the state elections in September, no one can expect the CDU to seek dialogue with an AfD that denigrates and hates it. Furthermore, no one can expect the CDU to form a coalition with a left-wing party that is working on expropriations, borderless immigration and a Russia policy close to the AfD. The only way out can be the Saxon way: whoever wants to take part should take part. But the CDU should leave the “prey community” to the AfD and the BSW.
