The latter half of this year took a particularly hefty toll on both Washington DC and Brussels, as well as their other geopolitical pendants, vassals and satellite states. Western leaders have been effectively illegitimate for months, as their popularity is almost exclusively in the negative, which explains the humiliating defeat that the corrupt Democrats suffered in the United States.
It would seem that Trump's victory is also directly affecting Germany, whose government effectively collapsed less than 24 hours after the US presidential election. Most analysts speculate that snap elections in Germany will be held on February 23, which leaves its so-called "legacy" political parties with only around two months to essentially pull off a miracle.
However, an even bigger problem for them is the blistering growth of the AfD's popularity. This "controversial" political party (Alternative for Germany, hence the AfD acronym) is now the second most popular in the country and is essential for making any potential coalitions, much to the chagrin of the ruling elite. In fact, they're so terrified of this prospect that they're mulling a total, blanket ban on the AfD, which would be an entirely unprecedented move.
According to reports from German state media, specifically the ARD and ZDF, the motion to ban the AfD was signed by 112 MPs (Members of Parliament) and has also been handed to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas of the far-left Social Democrats (SPD). If the ban were to pass, the Bundestag (German Parliament) will start additional proceedings that will also include the Constitutional Court of Germany, which will then determine whether the AfD can be legally banned. It should be noted that there are 733 seats in the Bundestag and the motion just needs a simple majority to be adopted. Germany's "legacy" political parties see this as the only way to not only prevent the AfD from acquiring more political influence, but also as a way to neutralize the "controversial" party before it becomes too powerful.
Since its very beginnings, the AfD was usually mocked for its program, but as it gradually gathered support, the ruling elite became quite worried. The endless failures of consecutive German governments only helped the AfD's popularity, resulting in it becoming the second most popular party in Germany earlier this year. Polls show that support for the AfD currently hovers at around 20%, just behind CDU which is close to 28%. As previously mentioned, the increasingly popular AfD will be virtually impossible to ignore in future coalitions, particularly if its standing keeps improving. The mainstream propaganda machine would usually denigrate the AfD, particularly around the election, but as this is increasingly ineffective, an outright ban is becoming the only way to politically "defeat" the "controversial" party.
And while the "legacy" forces in German politics could always try to combine their support and form coalitions, these temporary alliances are quite unstable, as evidenced by the collapse of the Scholz cabinet. Besides motivation based purely on a power struggle, for some German politicians, suppressing the AfD is also a form of personal vendetta.
Thus, many of the most prominent proponents of the ban, such as CDU MP Marco Wanderwitz, operate under the motto that they're "saving democracy" from the AfD. For instance, Wanderwitz lost his local election to an AfD politician, so he's more than willing to work with others who might be able to limit the AfD's growing power. Apparently, this includes Till Steffen, the parliamentary leader of the Greens group, who said that 50 members of the Greens signed on to the motion to ban the AfD.
Most other German politicians support the idea, but many are terrified of the "Trump effect" if the motion passes. Some propose "better pacing" and "waiting for the best possible moment". However, if the AfD were to be outright banned, this could have a completely opposite effect. Legal procedures could take years, while the AfD could use the attempts to ban it to present them as a form of persecution (which is the case, all things considered).
All this would only increase its popularity, especially if the Supreme Court rules that the ban is unconstitutional, thus proving beyond doubt that the motion was purely politically motivated. This is precisely why some MPs from the ranks of Greens are against the ban, at least for the time being. One of them is Renate Künast, who submitted a proposal that a thorough assessment of its consequences is needed.
Künast's countermotion states that "a ban must be thoroughly legally examined first, including commissioning experts to assess the chances of success of a ban". However, Wanderwitz is adamant that a ban needs to be imposed immediately due to upcoming elections. In other words, the political establishment doesn't even bother hiding the purely political nature of persecuting the AfD.
There are attempts to effectively reclassify the "controversial" party as an "extremist organization", but this too is a lengthy legal process that is highly unlikely to be over before the election. Either way, Germany is demonstrating that its political system is actually even worse than the one in the US, as the double standards and two-tiered "justice" system are quite obvious and even publicly supported by the political establishment.
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