For six days now, Annalena Baerbock has been the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor in Germany. Markus Söder of the CDU, on the other hand, only narrowly failed to do so. While the major media houses are mostly enthusiastic about the two, there are some remarkable similarities between their political rhetoric and that of Donald Trump. Are we facing a Trumpisation of German politics?
Annlena Baerbock may not have any experience in government business, but she does have a fair amount of “reality experience”. So we can rest assured. And so this fact is also touted as a great strength, a breath of fresh air is needed, after all, the current power elite is no longer capable of leading the country in an adequate manner. It is not too difficult to make a connection to Trump here. Even if the aggressive undertone is still missing in the Greens, the core argument is almost identical.
But similar developments can also be observed in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. First, at the beginning of the year, Friedrich Merz tried, as usual half-heartedly, to suggest a plot against him by the upper echelons of the CDU, since the election date for party leader had been postponed several times. Much more important, however, was the action of Markus Söder, who for days tried to use his good poll ratings and popularity with the CDU/CSU rank and file to secure his candidacy for chancellor, bypassing the CDU’s committee. Only Laschet’s steadfastness, which cannot be denied, prevented this candidacy. Thus, the most popular candidate for chancellor was also a man who did not want to bow to the power relations within the party and appealed directly to the voters. Trump had argued similarly when he ran against the Republican party establishment.
In any case, the arguments for a German Trump have arrived in the mainstream.
Simon Dierich 