Austria: populists score historic win
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This never works. And in the case of Germany, it will backfire massively. That's why I think they won't.
All that will happen is that they will create a new party under a new name, and then they will also be able to even more effectively point out that the German government is about as democratic as a certain earlier one.
Example: the fascist state called Belgium banned the Flemish Block in 2004. That year, the Flemish Block got 24% of the vote in Flanders. Next election, the refounded party lost due to a more moderate nationalist party rising - but together they got 28%. This year, the party got 23%, and got 46% along with the other party. Together, they hold exactly half the seats in the Flemish parliament.
So don't despair, that is the greatest of sins.
There have been several court cases in Germany recently that showed that judges who have been appointed by politicians and who are members of their parties will do whatever the party wants.
They stacked the courts. The German supreme court in particular is stacked by leftists and headed by a party-friend and appointee of Merkel.
So?
They normally use the courts to ban and criminalize their opponents. Doesn't mean it's going to work.
I wish they were that stupid.
The Germans don't need to ban the AFD. They've already succeeded in neutering them for the next election cycle. They and their media allies astroturfed the BSW as a "left-wing anti-immigrant" alternative (led by an Iranian) to siphon votes away from the AFD. In all of the recent regional elections it worked, and the first thing the BSW did was immediately rule out any coalition that included the AFD.
Dag, couple of points:
(1) There is absolutely nothing strange about a half-Iranian opposing wokeness and immigration. If you care at all about the country you live in, you will oppose being flooded by violent, barbaric savages. I'm 0% rather than 50% European, and I don't want any immigrants.
(2) The private opinions of politicians matter little to nothing. They will do whatever benefits them. What do you think will happen if a party runs on anti-immigration platform and then fails to deliver? That's the worst case scenario. Then the voters move to the AfD - for whom a straight jump to the AfD would probably be too much.
(3) BSW is actually OK, better than the establishment, she takes votes from the establishment, and it's not promoted by the media to my knowledge, and she's attacked by Antifa. I take a more objective stance, and I'll take anti-establishment where I can find it.
Except she's just proven that she isn't anti-establishment, by openly encouraging her regional leaders to ticket up with any establishment party they can in order to lock the AFD out of government in all three regions.
That was to be expected. The mistake you make is in assuming that all or even most BSW supporters would support the AfD if she weren't there. You don't know just how much the AfD has been demonized.
There is a far greater change of them going to the AfD if she disappoints them.
someone who is half-foreign has no business or standing to be in politics in either country.