German elections last weekend, in the East German state of Thuringia, confirmed what what Mish readers knew years ago: There is absolutely nothing left of Angela Merkel’s grand coalition.
Merkel’s CDU conservatives were blasted down from first to third place .
The Guardian reports Far-right AfD surges to second place in German state election.
Anti-immigrant populists beat Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) to second place in an election in the east German state of Thuringia yesterday, building spectacularly on their steady momentum since first entering the Bundestag two years ago.
Politico reports Far left and Right Outflank Center in Regional German Vote
Center Collapse
What follows is through the eyes of Eurointelligence who views a center meltdown as a bad thing.
Something happened there that we feared would happen at some point: for the first time, the extreme parties on the left and the right managed to get a majority between them. Without wishing to over-stretch the parallels, we note this is how the Weimar Republic ended.
Thuringia is the only state in Germany where the Left Party heads a government. It managed to increase its share of the vote to 31%. The AfD, with 23.4%, was the other big winner. What is particularly galling is that the AfD’s leader in the state is Bernd Hocke, a man on the far right of the party who has taken part in neo-Nazi marches.
We predicted some time ago that eventually the only way for the German centrist parties – CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP and Greens – to form a government would be through a mega-coalition between all them.
Since the 2017 elections, polls are registering declining vote shares for both CDU/CSU and SPD. They would longer have a majority nationwide. In Thuringia the situation went even further. If you add the seats of CDU, SPD, FDP and Greens, they are short of a majority together. The most likely scenario in Thuringia is for Bodo Ramelow of the Left Party, the current state premier, to form a minority government.
The over-arching story is the continuing meltdown of the political centre.
And finally, here is a story that encapsulates the SPD’s problem more than anything else: the former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel is about to be appointed chief lobbyist for the car industry. With Gerhard Schröder lobbying for Russian gas the SPD is now clearly the party supporting the industries of the past. The declining car industry and the declining SPD are perfect mirror images.
More Europe?!
If “more Europe” was the answer, this meltdown would not be happening.
On October 18, 2015 I wrote Swamped By Stupidity; Peak Merkel.
Her open arms “We can do this” welcome of millions of Syrian refugees was the final straw.
Merkel managed to stay in power because SPD would not pull the plug on the alleged “Grand Coalition”.
Why?
That’s easy.
SPD leaders would have lost the next election and more importantly cushy jobs, free limos, and other perks for as long as they stayed in power.
It is no accident that the long-time elders (those with perks), elected to keep the coalition in place while younger members got thoroughly disgusted and drifted to the Greens, the radical Left, or the radical Right.
Escape Plans
SPDs position in the “Grand” coalition is finally dead along with it the cushy jobs and limos.
What to do? What to do?
- The former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel is about to be appointed chief lobbyist for the car industry.
- Gerhard Schröder will lobby for the Russian gas industry.
It’s a fitting ending that proves what the Grand Coalition was really ever about: Political Perks.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Speaking of the RADICAL right:
Missouri Has Been Tracking the Menstrual Cycles of Planned Parenthood Patients, Top Health Official Admits
The news comes as the state weighs whether to shut down its last remaining abortion clinic.
I just do not want to hear any more crap from republicans at this point about how wasteful democrats are, I mean WTeverlovingF is this? GOP says there is no money for school lunches for poor kids, but they found the money to track women’s MENSTRUAL CYCLES? I wonder if they know, even a shred of a clue, how inhumane and flat out stupid they look to normal people?
“It’s a fitting ending that proves what the Grand Coalition was really ever about: Political Perks.”
Really? You make it sound like the German establishment is the only govt that cares about perks and power. Why do you think their are protests and anti-establishment movements going on across the globe?
Mish you have bunch of winers commenting here.
It is them .. they did it to us…
Sorry people it is You who did it to yourself going back to Otto von Bismarck and his socialist policies, State Socialism Staatssozialismus.
From then on, German problem started and never ended. English problem go back to 19 century as well, imperialism and Fabians go hand in hand.
French problem go to revolution of 1789.
less socialism, less warfare, less welfare.
more freedom
So socialism going back 2,5 centuries ago is what made central bankers today create an everything bubble and it somehow also inspires politicians who are alive today to decide on mass-immigration over choosing their own constituents, whilst us folks who seriously question these narratives are being lectured by some dude called MaxBnB in 2019.
That’s some powerful shit, that socialism. No wonder all these millenials crave the stuff! Freeeedoooommmm!
Let me guess – whoever opposes Trump next year will be a <<>> “socialist”.
They’ve got you primed and ready. Don’t start thinking for yourself or you’ll discover that the Republicans are really only helping the rich and wrap their policies in guns, God and patriotism – so much so that Gold Star Families and U.S. military officers are branded as traitors for not supporting Trump.
The amount of whining from the right about socialism will go thru the roof as the election closes in. Many of the whiners will be on Medicare and Social Security, of course, and they won’t want their socialist policies touched. I mean, heaven forbid some socialist should give kids free healthcare or free money – that is only for the over 65 crowd.
”>> “socialist”.
Let me guess – whoever opposes Trump next year will be a <<
“
Pretty much guaranteed. As will his opposition.
The political “center” has been moving to the left for a long time. What used to be normal just 2 – 3 decades ago is now “far-right”. There is nothing extreme about the AfD or the League once you realize that the so called “center” is now firmly in the batshit crazy territory.
This is, like, such an amazing, like, inclusive and diverse, like…like…empowering comment.
Not hard to guess which batshit crazy person I’m referring to here 🙂
Racist!
Oh-my-God!
Like…..whatever…..
🙂
Time to stock up on popcorn for when the Eurozone and the “Extreme Centre” implodes.
“We wanted workers. Instead we go people.” Don’t recall who said that, but it’s a mouthful.
When Samuel P. Huntington published Clash of Civilizations in 1996, I thought it pessimistic and a bit far fetched. I no longer do. In fact, one can now almost use it as a playbook for what’s happening in Europe, especially Germany.
Anyone remember what happened at the Cologne City Center on New Year’s eve, 2015? Mass sexual assaults, rapes and theft of Germans by Syrian and north African refugees, one civilization casually assaulting another. That had to profoundly impact the average German’s sense of security. I think it just showed up in the latest elections.
The West is neither a civilization, nor in any kind of shape to clash with anything anymore. It’s just a decaying corpse temporarily propped itself up by morons mindlessly printing money and indoctrinating their captive underlings into believing it is possible to make money/wealth by sitting idly around while the money printers make things “go up.”
Rather than a “clash”, what we are seeing is just a fertile, and at least partially civilized, culture filling the voids left by a former culture which is now dead.
Italy is somewhat ahead, but also more on the receiving end:
link to politico.eu
They need to scale this success to the whole country.
In their selfish quests to be seen as socialist “heroes”, both Obama and Merkel (and Macron and…) instead managed to stoke racism. Obama set race relations in the USA backward by several generations. Merkel pulled the AfD from the dustbin and made it a major political power in Germany.
Stealing from one group to give to a more politically favored group is bound to piss off the group being robbed. Its not charity when the politicians “donate” other people’s money; its theft. And it immediately sets the different sub-groups against each other, an easily foreseen outcome — and by that I mean Obama and Merkel both did it on purpose.
” Obama set race relations in the USA backward by several generations.”
Translation: How DARE he be black and president!
If I got it right, Country Bob means Obama favoured people of colour in such a way that racial (it’s funny when one is not supposed to speak of race but when something undesirable happens, it’s all about race) tensions grew. And I must agree. Obama did no favours to anyone.
It wasn’t just race. It was also with respect to immigration. An illegal should get in-state tuition but a citizen from another state is out of state tuition. Favoring Illegals over citizens in this way and with respect to law enforcement.
Also preferred sexual orientation is anything other than straight.
Obama was the first president IN THE WORLD that was elected from a recognized oppressed minority in a country. His election indicated that in the world the US is overall not as racist as other places. But that win was wasted with his election…
Try doing some research about Nelson Mandela, who was elected in South Africa years before Obama. Mandela in his waning years refused to meet with Obama (refused TWICE) making up some face saving excuse, but leaving little doubt that Obama’s racism — Obama’s deliberate raising of tensions, Obama’s favoritism based on race not merit — was bad for South Africa and bad for the USA.
Mandela made very clear that South Africa could not heal and come together as one country if each election boiled down to different groups trying to gain power and exact “revenge” on the others. Stealing land from white farmers in a stupid attempt to punish dead white politicians would only cause new tensions, not heal old ones.
Contrast Mandela’s views with racists like the ANC and Obama — who view positions of power as a means to exact revenge based entirely on race, exhibit favoritism toward one race while exhibiting hostility toward another race. Obama and the ANC are the antithesis of what Mandela advocated.
I actually agree with you, I’m stating that his election proved that this country isn’t as racist as he would claim, he screwed up race relations for decades to come.
In fact, Mandela was a true statesman. He tried his best to foster reconciliation in South Africa, but all his efforts have been undone by his successors.
The ‘political center’ has been doing expensive crazy stuff like the “Energiewende” and “Wir schaffen das” for years and years. No wonder some Germans are finally waking up.
“Far right” = enforcement of immigration laws that allows for vetted and approved immigrants that will actually make a country better. And deportation of those who ignore existing laws and come illegally.
10 years ago this would have been a center party platform.
Interesting to me is that it is only certain aspects of the left and right that are gaining prominence. Rightist economic policies are being jettisoned, while rightist nationalism is on the upswing. On the other hand, leftist economic policies are on the upswing while leftist social policies are languishing.
Trump represents that well in the US. The world is turning away from traditional liberalism, and more towards communitarianism, emphasizing community standards in culture and economic obligations.
Very true.
Clearly, this paradigm is dying. To make sense of it all, people still cling on to the left vs right narrative, which is understandable, but incorrect. I’m sure it has a lot to do with fiscal irresponsibility or outright fraud, greed or something along those lines. The doublespeak by politicians, the outright lies…it’s all being rejected right now, but nobody has a clue how to break this cycle of stupidity.
Unfortunately you are correct – it’s a witches brew of the worst politics has to offer.
All the cliches seem to have been mentioned, far right, end of Weimar republic and the rise of you-know-who, blah blah blah…
People even in my country are fed up for exactly the same reason that Harry-Ireland mentions above. We have been a small and poor country that rose to the current level through hard work and sacrifice and now we simply should shoulder the bill of never-ending migrants given free housing and all the social benefits that our grandparents could just dream about.
And at the same time things on the street level are degrading rapidly. One can just dream about permanent monthly job and benefits. Job renting is the New Black of the job market.
An average young person sees all this and he is given the role of the slave. In the end someone has to pay for all this richness the EUSSR is giving us.
More and more people say no to the offer.
Sad to say that if the people of Germany dont do something quick, they will take your votes from you, just like here in the UK.
Not to mention that every square kilometer of land was paid for in millions of lives in two horrific wars. Now the continent is being invaded without a shot and welcomed by braindead idiots. What do we exactly remember on November 11th?
I haven’t recognized Germany for years now. It’s a totally different society and not in a good way. The country has changed, people have changed, a sense of community, trust and respect are completely wiped out in some areas. Propertyprices have skyrocketed, including rentalprices, hence the Berlin rentcontrol of late.
This isn’t a surprise or unique to Germany. Everywhere you look in Western Europe, massimmigration has led to an enormous change in society. Perhaps someone should visualize the correlation between mass-immigration, the changes in GDP, rise in debt, stagnation of wagegrowth,lower interestrates and the shift in power between leftwing and rightwing political parties. It’s not rocketscience, people. It’s competition between the people who were born in an area, worked their whole lives to achieve an average quality of life at best (which for the past decade has seen a clear decline), and newcomers (who are sometimes even hostile and extremely ungreatful or violent) being given everything, for free and if you question this narrative, you’re bombarded with isms and basically forced into silence.
Wow, what a surprise that this doesn’t work. How very unexpected that you’ll eventually pay the price in every sense of the word, financially, socially and politically.
It’s giving them everything free that abets not assimilating and also makes them ungrateful and disrespectful. Society is based on cooperation, but cooperation is based on common goals, behavior, norms and shared interest. Diversity is all well and good in a flower bed, but even there you have to arrange things and do some weeding.
The ECB’s money printing has managed to do as much damage to Germany in the past decade, as Weimar money printing did back in the 30s.
In the 3 decades leading up to 2010, Germany was pretty much the only Western country where housing didn’t get more expensive. Instead, German housing got better, while prices actually decreased a bit year over year. Just as is the case in any market economy.
But, now being stuck in bed with the Brussels drunks: Since 2010, Germany has joined the rest of the West down the path to totalitarian dystopianness and rule by half literate, incompetent morons who “make money off their house and portfolio” as well. With entirely predictable consequences for everything from worsening competitiveness to decreasing living standards to blind faith in whichever halfwit elbows his way to a TV screen and claims he will be the Greatest Dear Leader they have had since last time one of those swooped in to “solve” problems created by money printing.
Who knew people wouldn’t like their towns being flooded with refugees?
Remember those useful idiots holding up signs and singing songs such as ‘you’re so very welcome in my country’ and ‘refugees welcome’. That level of virtue signalling cringe still causes me to wake up screaming and kicking in the middle of the night….
Eh… I’ll give them a pass and believe they just wanted to help out their fellow humans. They did what Jesus would do. How could they know they were going to get more than they could handle?
Nothing wrong with being kind.
They’re aren’t kind. It’s just a gesture.
Like a kid that gives away a toy or shares his candy, only to change his mind again once the rush of “being good” evaporates and the reality sinks in.
Kindness is good and necessary, I agree.
But this was hysteria, rooted in some weird mixture of German guilt and unbelievable levels of virtuesignalling. You just cannot justify such a massive influx of hystorical proportions, with lasting repercussions to society on so many levels. It’s been a colossal mistake and it just shows how incompetent European ‘leaders’ have been and still are. The way I look at it is always from the centre. Too many left-wing policies are bad, too many right-wing policies are bad. It should be an equation, a balanced mixture of the general views of the public. But that’s not what happened now, was it?
Y’all seem to know a lot about the internal motivations of people halfway across the ocean…. are you Germans?
Jesus’s family LEFT Egypt after Herod died & returned to Judea. Will the 1 million refugees all leave Germany & return home, just Jesus returned home?
Would Jesus kick ANY refugee out? Or are we talking about Supply Side Jesus here?
I don’t know. Your statement was, “They did what Jesus would do.” We have a biblical record of exactly what Jesus did: Return to Judea after the danger posed by Herod ended. If we go by the standard you cited — “They did what Jesus would do” — then they, likewise, should return to their homelands when danger has abated.
The same people who knew that having train loads of migrants turning up without a welcome would look bad ?
Oddly enough, the mainline parties will do a coalition with Die Linke long before they do one with AfD. They seem to fail to grasp that they can coopt the AfD, but they’d rather run the risk of the Left coopting them.