My thoughts on Sunday's German election

Photo by Martin Fennema on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

We’ve been here before.

The infantile post-hoc rationalization that passes for journalism may have evolved slightly; the bar for what constitutes an establishment victory may have been lowered; the sense of panic has certainly escalated.

But essentially, this is just the 2017 election all over again.

Back then, Germany had endured four years of a “grand coalition” between Angela Merkel’s CDU and the SPD. Divided internally over migration, the government was given a slap over the chops by the electorate.

The CDU was re-elected with 33 percent of the vote—their worst-ever result. The SPD came second with 21 percent (also their worst-ever score), while the AfD entered parliament for the first time with 13 percent.

The morning after the results were announced, Der Spiegel called it “a disaster” for the government, blaming Merkel for the CDU’s “defeat.” Her strategy of “governing in silence, without upsetting anyone, without allowing big debates,” …