geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/8357814
The left side of the graph shows the results, the right side shows possible coalitions
this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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...no. And their opposition to the law wasn't transphobic (in the strict sense) in the first place but regarded abuse potential, which is why the law that got passed says that name changes are transmitted to police etc. so they can figure out whether someone's trying to escape justice that way. Queer community of course didn't like that but it did insulate the whole thing against attacks from the right.
They won't. Also they'd fail before the constitutional court as outlawing it back then was not scrutinised by the same standards the constitutional court would apply now. Fixing it, OTOH, forget it.
Hell they aren't because SMEs aren't. Merz picked that up in a (stupid) attempt to get AfD votes. The CDU is captured by lobby interests and the lobby wants immigrant workers. Loudly. Vocally. The whole economy of the whole east is up in arms about lacking workers and the AfD scaring away those they could get. They're going to bury the topic as quickly as they can. That Netanjahu invitation might actually be exactly that: That's giving the Springer press opportunity to forget about the whole xenophobia thing and instead focus on purported anti-semitism on the left. Because, *checks notes*, executing international arrest warrants is antisemitic. Expect candlelight vigils with pictures of sniped children, I'm confident Die Linke knows how to play that one, this isn't about preventing the visit at all costs but exposing bigotry on the right. Did I already mention that Merz sucks at strategy?
Or maybe they just hide their transphobia behind a thin veil of reasonable-sounding, legal arguments.
They will use that topic for diversion in a pinch. It's mostly meaningless to them, but they'll happily jump at the chance to play off unemployed stoners against the hard-working middle class.
That's genuinely somehing for a judge to decide. And it's usually years before unconstitutional laws are revoked.
Merz is also, genuinely, a bigot. In all possible respects: toward women, toward foreigners, toward gender and sexual minorities, towards non-Christians, ...
And there are also all manner of attempts to divide non-Germans within Germany, one of these is:
Don't forget that all the rhetoric of the past 3 months, from the right-wing parties in particular, but also from SPD, and even the Greens with their "deportations to Afghanistan and Syria, sure, but only to a rational degree" ideas have already spooked people living here. We're also bound to see right-wing attacks rise further.
Merz and CxU are also not paragons of rationality. Everybody knew, and they must have known that they would only strengthen the Afd if they went all in on "bad foreigners" as the primary campaign topic. Really, 100% predictable. But they did. They used a terror attack to start the discussion and executed just as Merz had wanted to for 20 years, in fact. And they indeed lost 4.5% since the polls in November and the election last weekend, much of it to Afd. Primo job!
One of the interests of that lobby is actually undercutting pay those employees. That's significantly easier when your employees don't know about their rights, when they're not working legally, etc.
You mentioned SMEs. SMEs are not that important to CxU, even less to Merz. But they look good as figureheads, so they get some breadcrumbs, and lots of mentions in speeches. And they're told to grow.
That's paranoia, not analysis, also, the CDU is too big to keep such a conspiracy secret. It'd rather look like the AfD's attempts to not look fascist. Also, they'd be facing opposition from the churches to... capture a sentiment that doesn't really exist outside of a couple of rabid people noone will tear away from the AfD, anyway? To discriminate against one of the first groups of people the Nazis persecuted?
True, still those topics are a dime a dozen and first they'd have to actually desire a ruckus. Right now is the absolute worst time for that, they want unity and stability to a) face the existing geopolitical threats and b) look better than the traffic light and c) don't know whether they realise that but to weaken the AfD, which thrives on democratic parties bickering.
And there was internal opposition! But CDU does as CDU does once Merz was elected leader, not so much because Merkel's wing would be weak but because the middle wing wanted to balance the scales, the rest of the party kept silent to only moderating slightly. They do that kind of thing all the time, shifting the external perception of the party by putting different people on the front. They might not be deep strategists but they know what strategy is and they have the internal discipline to follow through on it.
Side note did you notice Söder very much emphasising social stuff in the Union faction press conference. Fuck me if in the end it's the Bavarians causing a resurgence in social housing projects etc, actually combat the core reasons why the AfD surged. Maybe even sell it as a grand "Bismarckian" thing, ignore the AfD, say it's to keep the icky left in check.