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Runoff loser Merz
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
Actually, after a few seconds it is already clear: it won't work again.
Berlin, exhibition grounds, Saturday morning: Friedrich Merz begins his application speech for the party chairmanship.
Without an audience, just the camera in front of him.
Armin Laschet mastered this challenge excellently before him.
He played with the camera, creating the impression that he was addressing each individual directly.
And Merz?
Looks past the camera, now here, now there.
Without orientation.
At some point he starts to understand where he's looking, but it won't be a good speech anyway.
Merz speaks - yes, what about?
At the end of the day you don't really know, he reels off the program once, with which he could have given a greeting to the Seniors Union.
Will the speech scare off delegates?
Nobody knows.
She doesn't help him.
A little later it is clear: Merz loses the race against Laschet.
It must be said that he is now an almost tragic figure in German politics.
A double failed.
Someone who ran into a wall once, got up, and hit the same wall again.
After 2018, when he lost to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, he lost again.
At the crucial moment he showed his nerve again and once again disappointed the hopes of his fans, a large block within the CDU.
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