Markus Lanz "tears up" the new left leader: "Not that I know your program better than you"

Wolfgang Schäuble is given a lot of airtime for “Markus Lanz”, but he can hardly use it.

This also applies to left co-boss Hennig-Wellsow. 

Hamburg - At the beginning of the “Markus Lanz” talk, the President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), who was connected via video, demonstrated all of his political experience.

Talkmaster Lanz hardly manages to get beyond the status of the cue-maker during the 30-minute interview.

When Lanz wanted to know how deep the CDU's crisis was, Schäuble spanned a wide arc from a CDU, which was already declared dead in the late 1960s, to today's “system competition” with authoritarian states like China and the question of who could better cope with the pandemic .

The latter is currently more of a concern for him than current polls.

Wolfgang Schäuble on "Markus Lanz": "It's not as dramatic as you describe the situation"

Schäuble is, Lanz emphasizes this as “rhetorical skill”, trying to downplay the conflict between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and CDU party chairman Armin Laschet and is stressedly relaxed.

The people are just not used to the fact that it is not the Chancellor who has to campaign in order to be re-elected.

This would make small differences of opinion bigger than they are.

“Of course, he cannot just operate and act alongside the Chancellor, but must also have its own profile at the same time.

And as soon as there is a small difference, it becomes difficult, "says Schäuble and insists:" It's not as dramatic as you describe the situation. "

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Wolfgang Schäuble in an interview with Markus Lanz (ZDF)

© Screenshot: ZDF / Markus Lanz

"Markus Lanz" - these were his guests on March 31st:

• Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) - President of the German Bundestag

• Susanne Hennig-Wellsow (Die Linke) - Co-Chair of the Left Party

• Cerstin Gammelin - journalist

• Stephan Grünewald - psychologist

It wasn't until the previous evening that Armin Laschet spoke to “Markus Lanz” about the clarification of the K question between Easter and Whitsun, Schäuble underlines this time frame: “The two of them will work it out together.

I think the two party leaders will make a joint proposal.

Angela Merkel did the same with Edmund Stoiber, it was almost 19 years ago.

That will be fine.

But it's not now.

We have bigger problems at the moment than dealing with personnel issues. ”This assessment does not change anything about Lanz's follow-up that“ it is not about any personnel issue ”.

More than a dry “It will probably be one of the two party leaders”, he cannot elicit from the Bundestag chairman.

Cerstin Gammelin on "Markus Lanz": "The Gauweiler case shows that it is a structural problem."

Schäuble also knows how to skilfully evade inquiries about the mask affair and consultant fees.

While the journalist Cerstin Gammelin recognizes a Union-specific problem in Gauweiler's work, Schäuble is of the opinion that these are "individual cases" that are "particularly harmful in such a situation".

However, the current challenges are more pressing than these processes.

Gammelin adds: “You fought on the front line for Europe and in your own ranks of the Union you had someone who can be paid to sue in Karlsruhe against European decisions.

That's not a trivial matter, it's a structural problem. "Schäuble replies that he accepted Gauweiler's anti-European course as authentic and pulls himself out of the affair:" As President of the Bundestag, I cannot have it cleared up because he is no longer a member of parliament.

But the CSU said yes, they want to clear up the matter. "

Stephan Grünewald on "Markus Lanz": "Everyday life in the shadows is establishing itself."

When asked about the crumbling trust in the Union, the psychologist Stephan Grünewald finds that trust is always there “when a direction can be identified”.

Because that is not the case, the “deeper rift between Ms. Merkel and Mr. Laschet is an expression of a fundamental paradigm dispute.

The Chancellor assumes that we will get the crisis under control if we radically reduce mobility and ultimately put the country into collective hibernation.

Laschet and others tend to have this paradigm: After many months of lockdown, we have to find ways to open up and take people with us ”.

This leads to a "swaying movement": "We do lockdowns that are not real, but we also do not get into the controlled opening strategies." From a psychological point of view, however, these are important to create incentives for people who induce them to take tests.

His finding: "The majority would like to get out of this endless loop."

Susanne Hennig-Wellsow on "Markus Lanz": "Good comments from the garden fence"

Finally, talk show host Lanz put the left co-boss Susanne Hennig-Wellsow to the test.

Previously, the left-wing politician had already sat in the nettles in the interview format of the journalist Tilo Jung.

And Lanz does not miss the opportunity to carry out his own fact check with her.

Hennig-Wellsow says that her party, unlike the Greens and the FDP, could not benefit from the pandemic because they only "stood at the garden fence for too long and had good comments".

Under the new dual leadership of Janine Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow, things should be different, but the latter often has to point out that “you have to look at it in detail” or “then discuss it in detail”.

What if she were Chancellor or Finance Minister tomorrow, Lanz wants to know - and then doesn't let her off the hook.

When Lanz asked for an explanation of the taxation system of the Left, which provides for a top tax rate from an annual income of 80,000 euros, at the end of the topic block there is also a vague: “It's always a negotiation story.” The left-wing politician visibly squirms, seems to be partially overwhelmed when it comes to financial policy, emphasizes how “complex” the topic is.

But Lanz goes on, responds to her keyword “inheritance tax” and wants to know: “How high would it be?” Hennig-Wellsow cannot parry: “I don't have that in my head now”.

Lanz doesn’t let that stand: “That’s an important component of your financial policy.” And continues to attack: “Not that I know your program better than you do, that would be fatal.”

Gammelin finds the demands “daring” and considers such a form of taxation to be “a don't-choose-me-program”.

After all, Hennig-Wellsow also knows: "The radical change in direction in financial policy is one of the sticking points for red-red-green."

“Markus Lanz” - the conclusion

Had Wolfgang Schäuble and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow sat together in the studio, an exciting argument could have developed.

But because the CDU politician, who is only present via video, has the first half hour of broadcast time and the left-wing politician has the last half hour, this edition of “Markus Lanz” is strangely anemic, especially after the emotional appearance of Armin Laschet the evening before.