The situation on Friday: SPD

Merkel in Auschwitz

Chancellor Merkel is visiting the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland today and will give a speech there. It's amazing that she's making this trip so late in her era. Actually, Auschwitz would have to be a mandatory date in the first year of office, so that it becomes symbolically clear on what recollection also the new chancellorship is based. In Auschwitz, the Nazi regime killed well over a million people. It was one of many German concentration camps, but became the epitome of the Holocaust.

Bleed, worn and lost

HAYOUNG JEON / EPA-EFE / REX

SPD party congress in Berlin

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Issue 49/2019

Beethoven - A pop star turns 250

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Today, on St Nicholas Day, the SPD gets the very big attention again, maybe for the last time for a long time - she should enjoy it. In Berlin begins the party congress, from which one does not know yet, where it will lead, to the end of the grand coalition or to its continuation with renewed program.

We have experienced the following attitudes towards the government since the 2017 general election by the leading social democrats:

• No way into a grand coalition
• Rein in a grand coalition
• Good mid-term review of the Grand Coalition
• Poor mid-term review of the Grand Coalition
• Maybe get out of the grand coalition, but rather not, or maybe?

Sequel follows.

The following top politicians were worn out:

• Martin Schulz, once party chairman, now a simple member of the Bundestag
• Sigmar Gabriel, formerly Federal Foreign Minister, has now dropped out of politics
• Andrea Nahles, former party and group leader, has now dropped out of politics
• Olaf Scholz, Federal Finance Minister and once candidate for the party presidency, severely damaged after his election defeat
• Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, party chairperson-in-chief, are already badly trimmed and vilified

Sequel follows.

The following crashes have occurred in the meantime:

• Bavaria: minus 10.9 percent (to 9.7)
• Hessen: minus 10.9 percent (to 19.8)
• Bremen: minus 7.9 percent (to 24.9)
• European election: minus 11.4 percent (to 15.8)
• Brandenburg: minus 5.7 percent (to 26.2)
• Saxony: minus 4.7 percent (to 7.7)
• Thuringia: minus 4.2 percent (to 8.2)

Sequel follows.

The SPD is now the German disaster party. Worse, she has nothing to gain. Whether she leaves GroKo or stays inside, the theater is definitely going to continue.

Loser of the day

Jonathan Ernst / REUTERS

Donald Trump

This is Donald Trump because Democrats in the House of Representatives will initiate impeachment proceedings against him. But it may be that this decision will make Trump a winner of the day in the future.

The Democrats believe that Trump has abused his position to pressure Ukraine to investigate the son of his rival Joe Biden. The evidence is convincing, but this process is decided politically and not legally. In the end, the Senate votes on the impeachment, and there Trump's Republicans have the majority.

This will definitely be embarrassing for Trump, but it can also benefit him instead of hurting him. Many of his followers will not care about the details, they are following Trump's policies more as fans than as citizens. He can not go wrong as long as he embodies what they think is right: the protest against the political establishment. In the end, it would only count for them that the impeachment failed, that the Democrats are embarrassed. Trump's chorus is already ringing in your ears.

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I wish you a nice start to the day.

Your Dirk Kurbjuweit