M

Protegor ergo Obligor. Space Warlordism Enjoyer. Fan of Half-life, Mass Effect and Warhammer.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil Anyway, I appreciate the conversation but I really have to go. I must say, despite our differences I appreciated the conversation and your candor. We may not agree but your were respectful and willing to lay out your beliefs and have them challenged.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil That's an empty platitude that tells me nothing. It that were the case, anti-immigration Viktor Orban's Hungary would be a shining beacon of prosperity. Instead, it's an aging hellscape with its economy entirely dependent on providing cheap Hungarian labor to German corporations.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil The AfD is a special case in that it is so distasteful that the CDU is forced to work against them. If they were at least rhetorically more moderate, the firewall would get doused.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil Uh, yes ? If a party has few seats then their demands will be ignored. "They got a lot of votes and them the other parties listened to them" is how parliamentary systems work. Center-right forces work with right-pops all the time all across the continent.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil This is the crux of why I dislike these parties. They live in an imaginary fantasy land where you can just deport immigrants and the world is saved. Where are the detailed plans to restart the economy? Tackle international crises? It's just "I hate immigrants" and that's it.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil And then what? You get an AfD-BSW coalition that agrees on deporting immigrants, and that's it? Their grand plan to restart the German economy is to leave the euro and the EU, which is the closest you can get to a "nuke the economy" button.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil Wrong. AfD voters tend to have far diverging views from the rest of German society on key questions of governance and nazi remembrance. There is absolutely a nazi undercurrent in the party, whether Weidel knows what the führerprinzip is or not.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil Whether it's a good strategy or not is irrelevant to my point.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil The "young people are right wing" is way overstated and primarily concerns men. Young women are far more united behind the pro-immigration Linke. The primary base of support of the AfD is sore Ostalgic boomers in dying East Germany that get very few immigrants.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil You do realize that people can support policies but find the party itself distasteful? Immigration restrictionism is not binary, there is a difference between say a point system and full-on mass deportations.

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil AfD is extreme because they are nazis: the party does nothing to rein in their extremists such as the Flügel wing and Höcke and consistently posts dogwhistles for nazi beliefs. Why do you think other continental right-wing forces such as RN keep their distance?

[M @LTBucket]

@IdeallyRational @jared_wold @cremieuxrecueil The Firewall is the will of the German people made manifest: they do not want to collaborate. In a parliamentary system you voice your concerns by voting but other parties are under no obligation to work with you. It's up to the party in question to earn it.

[M @LTBucket]

@_Plac3_hold3r @CoKeynesian https://t.co/lHOu1n4GnP I actually read it in this article first. That irrelevant point aside, why would Kyiv agree to blatant mafioso-like extortion to the tune of 500 billion (more than double Ukraine's GDP) in exchange for no security guarantees?

[M @LTBucket]

@_Plac3_hold3r @CoKeynesian The US is demanding 500 billion (total US aid is not even a quarter of that) in exchange for no security guarantees and what is tantamount to the economic colonization of Ukraine. Why on earth would Zelensky accept?

[M @LTBucket]

@bdquinn This is basically the führerprinzip so I'd be pretty comfortable in calling him a nazi

[M @LTBucket]

@Eric_J_Brooks @jeantudouglas @fbermingham The Trump admin has taken an aggressively pro-Russia and anti-Europeam stance: on tariffs, Greenland, interference in domestic politics and Ukraine/NATO. It's only natural that the EU would begin looking towards another hegemon.

[M @LTBucket]

@BrianMerris Free trade and interventionism, on the other hand, require more thought: you need to pull out graphs, explain comparative advantage, what is soft power, etc... by the time you're done, the other candidate has won and is planning his first tariffs.

[M @LTBucket]

@BrianMerris Imo isolationism and autarky are both perpetual undercurrents of thought among the masses. They are seductive concepts that make intuitive sense ("I don't want my tax money to go to foreigners and let's spend money on our countrymen's goods") and don't require much explaining.