Europe
Merz, from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party once led by Angela Merkel, told Scholz his spending plans would burden future generations and accused him of failing to deliver on promises of rearmament after the start of the Ukraine war.
"Taking on debt at the cost of the young generation, spending money — and you didn't say the word 'competitiveness' once," said Merz.
Another one not understanding what the debt is.
seems like not understanding basic economics is a requirement for being in mainstream German politics
*mainstream liberal politics worldwide
basically yeah
The guy is a populist, unfortunately.
Does “populist” have a coherent definition? I don’t use the term. It seems to recently have come to mean: “right-wing politician who claims to be against the ‘elites.’” They aren’t, of course: it’s kayfabe. They answer to factions of capitalist class, just as the neoliberal politicians they hope to replace do.
“Populism” seems to be a liberal construction, meaning a bourgeois one. It gives off “tyranny of the majority” vibes. God forbid the majority—the working class—should ever get real political power.
Hmm, might be that the definition is somewhat less diffuse in German.
I meant primarily that the guy makes claims that resonate with the masses, even though and also specifically because they oversimplify and misrepresent complex issues, or are just complete fucking lies.
For example, the guy is infamous for a claim he made a year ago, that asylum seekers who've been rejected would be getting complete coverage of medical treatments and therefore getting their teeth fixed up, when our citizens don't get appointments, which is just absolute non-sense. None of this happens. But of course, it resonates with nazis, and anyone who's uninformed and frustrated with our medical system.
doesn't it just mean “guy who claims to be against the ‘elites.’"?