{"id":344720,"date":"2024-09-26T15:47:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T13:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=344720"},"modified":"2024-09-26T15:47:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T13:47:05","slug":"suddenly-everybody-hates-them-german-leaders-resign-after-crushing-greens-election-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=344720","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSuddenly everybody hates them\u201d. German leaders resign after crushing Greens election loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JoNova <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jo Nova<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greens have become the \u201cpunching bag\u201d of the Left and the Right<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Things just keep getting worse for the Greens in Germany. After two terrible performances in recent state elections the Party \u201ccrashed out of the state parliament\u201d in the Brandenburg region of Germany (which surrounds Berlin). Results were so awful, the two current leaders of the German Greens have jointly stepped down<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greens won a mere 4% of the vote in the region, not even reaching the minimum 5% required to win a parliamentary seat in the State election. About 70% of their voter base had abandoned them in the last five years. In Thuringia, the entire traffic light ruling coalition of three parties barely amassed 10% of the vote collectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right-wing AfD (Alternative for Germany) party \u201ckeeps rising despite efforts to stop the party\u201d says Nette N\u00f6stlinger at Politico<\/em>, slightly baffled. The establishment used the nastiest names they could think of, and it didn\u2019t work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AfD keeps rising despite efforts to stop the party<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Germany\u2019s mainstream leaders have made a concerted effort to stop the rise of the AfD by warning voters of the party\u2019s growing extremism, with some leaders even calling it a Nazi<\/a> party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve heard this before:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State-level domestic intelligence authorities have classified the local branches of the party in both Saxony and Thuringia as extremist organizations aiming to undermine German democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nasty names are backfiring, because no one is listening anymore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That points to a core problem that won\u2019t be easy for centrist parties to grapple with \u2014 a growing mistrust of the centrists and the country\u2019s institutions that has fomented anti-establishment fervor across a large swath of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, even as many centrist leaders and institutions in Germany warn of the AfD\u2019s extremism, many voters have simply stopped listening. In fact, the approach may be backfiring by alienating AfD voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the TV commentators called the AfD \u201cextremist\u201d the leader in Thuringia said \u201cPlease stop stigmatizing me\u201d. \u201cWe are the number one people\u2019s party in Thuringia. You don\u2019t want to classify one-third of Thuringian voters as right-wing extremists, do you?\u201d <\/em>But of course, the TV commentariat probably did want to do exactly that\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bullying is brittle. When it fails, it crumbles into anti-matter, because there was nothing but nastiness to fall back on.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Even  The Guardian<\/em><\/a> has noticed that the Greens have a crisis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the recent election campaigns, it [The Greens] often appeared to be the punchbag for parties across the spectrum. Accusations were rife that the party was trying to \u201cdictate\u201d the lives of ordinary Germans \u2013 from which type of heating system to use, to which car to drive \u2013 with the BSW and AfD going so far as to compare the Greens to the Communist regime of the former German Democratic Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is hope. Young voters are abandoning the party faster than any other age bracket:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party has also lost a larger proportion of its younger voters at recent elections than any other party. In Sunday\u2019s Brandenburg poll, for instance, it saw its support in the 16-to-24 age bracket drop by 24 percentage points, a bigger fall than in any other age range. \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eugyppius says \u2014 Something strange and unexpected is happening to the Greens \u2014 \u201cEveryone hates them\u201d.<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Crisis of the Greens and the Future of the Left<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been thinking a lot about the Greens since their drubbing in the recent German elections. Something strange and unexpected is happening to them \u2013 something that even two years ago I wouldn\u2019t have predicted. They are bleeding support; they are on the defensive and suddenly everybody hates them. In East Germany you could even say that they are in outright collapse. The party of the future, the party of the youth, the party at the cutting edge of progressivism, is now withering on the vine. And I suspect that this is not just happening in Germany. It may be happening here faster than it is in other countries, but the Greens are an international phenomenon, and Green politics are in trouble in many places beyond the Federal Republic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Paywalled)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Votes for the Greens have been stolen from both sides<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The collapse in popularity is about the climate, the heat-pumps, the cars, the energy prices \u2014 but it\u2019s also about immigration and the war.  A new leftist force has appeared from nowhere in the  last few months, run by a former communist, but wanting to curb immigration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some ways, the biggest winner of the night was the populist-left Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht<\/a> (BSW), which is led by a former member of East Germany\u2019s communist party. The BSW finished third <\/a>in both states, a notable result for a party that only formed several months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party, which merges traditional right-wing stances on immigration and other social issues, has repeatedly called for an end to German military aid for Ukraine and negotiations with Putin \u2014 a view for which there is much sympathy in Germany\u2019s formerly communist East. \u2014 Politico<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s part of the Great Realignment of politics. The new force on the left attacks the Greens for being arrogant and out of touch with the workers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Germany\u2019s rising superstar so far left she\u2019s far right?<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

James Angelos, Politico<\/em>, August 26th, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sahra Wagenknecht\u2019s brand of \u201cleft conservatism\u201d is upending German politics ahead of critical elections in the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening to Sahra Wagenknecht, Germany\u2019s hard-left icon, you could be forgiven for coming away with the impression that the greatest threat to democracy is \u201clifestyle leftists\u201d nursing lattes in reusable cups while shopping for organic kale at a Berlin farmers\u2019 market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such well-off, eco-friendly urban bohemians hold what they deem to be \u201cmorally impeccable\u201d views about everything from Ukraine to climate change, she says, and then impose those beliefs over regular people with draconian zeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sahra Wagenknecht\u2019s brand of \u201cleft conservatism\u201d is very tailored to East Germany, but some of it will translate widely. Uncontrolled immigration is a hot button everywhere. She attacks the influx of asylum seekers as a threat to the welfare state, which, she says, requires a \u201ccertain degree of homogenity to function\u201d. She attacks the gender bender transformations as something that benefits the big pharmaceutical companies. All of this will resonate across the political divide. At one point last year, the leader of the AfD in Thuringia was so impressed with her, he invited her to join the party in a speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pure environmental Greens are a luxury bubble that no one can afford anymore. Those days are over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t   John Connor II<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos adapted from Image by Image by PayPal.me\/FelixMittermeier<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a> and Presentsquare Presentsquare<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Things just keep getting worse for the Greens in Germany. After two terrible performances in recent state elections the Party \u201ccrashed out of the state parliament\u201d in the Brandenburg region of Germany (which surrounds Berlin). Results were so awful, the\u00a0two current leaders of the German Greens have jointly stepped down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691830734,691829688,691818051,691830735,691830733],"class_list":["post-344720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alliance-sahra-wagenknecht-bsw","tag-east-germany","tag-germany","tag-the-afd","tag-the-german-greens"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1rG0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":282544,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282544","url_meta":{"origin":344720,"position":0},"title":"Bitter Defeat For Germany\u2019s Ruling Socialist\/Green Government In State Elections","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"04.05.2022, Brandenburg, Meseberg: Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (M, SPD), Robert Habeck (l, B\u00fcndnis 90\/Die Gr\u00fcnen), Bundesminister f\u00fcr Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, und Christian Lindner (r, FDP), Bundesminister der Finanzen, kommen zur Abschlusspressekonferenz nach der Klausurtagung der Bundesregierung vor dem Schloss Meseberg, dem G\u00e4stehaus der Bundesregierung. 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I\u2019m grateful to @tomdabassman on Twitter for\u00a0drawing attention\u00a0to its recent and deeply creepy 200-page report on \u2018The obligation of policymakers: facilitating environmentally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Policy\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Policy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-policy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0936194533.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0936194533.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0936194533.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0936194533.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0936194533.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344720"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344727,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344720\/revisions\/344727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}