Merz plans to set a 24-hour deadline for Russia, pushing for Taurus missile delivery to Ukraine to enhance its military capabilities against aggression.
Don't get your hopes up. Merz would sell his own mother if it raised his chances of getting elected. He's just listening to what's unpopular about the current government and claiming to do whatever is the exact opposite. A lot of it is just hot air from yet another populist.
I expect him to continue support for Ukraine though, so that's good at least.
Plot twist: his mom is the youth sweetheart of Putin from his vacations in East Germany, the break up is what turned him into a violent autocrat, her return could heal his little broken heart and make him the tsar of love and harmony.
Nah, he manages to solve all world conflicts by funneling his stolen billions into massive communication campaigns promoting empathy, which triggers pacific transitions to peacefull democracies in all authoritarian countries.
Tue be completely honest that would be more like the AfD. But Merz recently cried about how the "Brandmauer" to them was forced upon them by the media and he or his party never used the term.
Which was a lie of course, his then general secretary used it first in like 2021 and shortly after he used it as well. It's just that it was more popular at the time to deny any plan with working with them. And those fucks sure didn't get less shitty over time.
He also said the other day he'd do deals with Trump. Whatever those are supposed to be.
Edit: Forgot the conclusion: Not quite literally a facist like the shit smelling convict, but not all that much better either.
Well, certainly not thrilled about the prospect of Merz, then. Hopefully this position ends up shared amongst the other candidates, though.
He also said the other day he’d do deals with Trump. Whatever those are supposed to be.
tbf, everyone is saying that, in part because "One of the biggest nations in the world just elected a moron we can't work with" is considered undiplomatic, whereas "we'll do deals" gives the illusion of hope and an out if Trump demands something ridiculous (as he inevitably will).
That's actually my reasoning voting for him...Kleineres Übel...and let's be honest, Scholz never was Chancellor material, Habeck still needs more time and I don't think he's got enough support from the greens "realoflügel" to have his back and on top of that, the greens do not have enough support to "make" Chancellor. I hate Merz' s guts, but unless the SPD finds a different candidate (Pistorius, anyone...? I'd vote in a heartbeat for him and I despise the SPD)...Merz is it, even with the risk of an Afd involvement.
So if he sells his mother for Taurus in Ukraine and punish Putins utter madness once and for all...so be it.
Your fine with private messages not being private anymore, social securities being cut (including ukrainian refugees) and the police getting closer to US style?
Habeck is a realo, not fundie. Support for him among green voters (which is what actually counts, not party members, he'll get his nomination because who else should they run) is overwhelming, very good among SPD voters, AfD voters hate him and that won't change any time soon, CDU is where he's going to have to make inroads. Perception-wise the problem is competence, blame that on the Bild campaign and I absolutely expect that to shift very quickly once people actually hear him in a debate.
There is only two opponents to Ukraine aid in the current federal parliament. The neoliberal FDP who just got booted out of the government and wanted to use Ukraine aid to ransom away social security, infrastructure investments and work towards mitigating climate change, and the fascist Putin financed AfD. The FDP is Merz favorite potential next coalition partner, if they should make it to parliament again. The AfD is what Merz is working towards since three years, but cannot make a coalition yet, because he needs to work more on normalizing them first. This currently happens on local and state level.
Merz is only been "pro Ukraine" because Scholz messed up regarding Taurus missiles and because the FDP used it as ransom to ruin other aspects of the state budget. Merz focused on this message as a driving wedge in the dysfunctional, now broken coalition. There is little reason to believe, that he is genuinely caring about Ukraine, or that he would make that a deciding factor in coalition negotiations.
Honestly Merz does a lot of shit, but he is for pro Ukranian action, which is relativly unpopular. The issue is more, that he has never been in government and a lot of his other ideas are horrible.
Also the CDU is in parts very pro Russia. Kretschmer comes to mind.