Friedrich Merz, the AfD and the autumn of distrust

As is well known, the AfD tends to be targeted exaggeration, including its own meaning. “Germany’s strongest strength” – so it is proud of the desks, behind which chairwoman Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla hand over their statements in the Bundestag.

A look at the plenum is enough to refute this claim. Of course, the party says something else: in surveys it is currently in 1st place.

This also applies to the current Forsa survey on behalf of star and RTL/NTV. Here the AfD reaches the highest value each measured with 27 percent and is clearly in front of the Union.

The record is obviously related to another number: 70 percent of those surveyed are dissatisfied with CDU Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The Germans never thought about him so badly.

How could that happen?

First of all, there is the generally difficult situation. The current government is just as limited for the crises and wars of this world as for the economic growth, which has been weakening for years, the structural deficits of the social systems and the demographic change behind it.

But this only explains the stable base of dissatisfaction, not the trend. And the coalition is expressly to blame for it. Because it continued in too many places where the traffic light stopped: with bad craftsmanship, public dispute and lousy communication.

A current example: After the Union and SPD enforced the highest debt of all time with a selected majority – and thanks to a break from Merz, the money for approval road construction projects is now missing.

In any case, Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder, who has previously decided in the cabinet, claimed the 2026 draft budget, in which the alleged deficit is partly. (The fact that the same minister of transport is unable to reorganize the leadership of the railway without an accident is only mentioned.)

As a result, Schnieder spent Lars Klingbeil with SPD finance minister and revolted several Union MPs, which is why Merz had to intervene himself again. The result is again the image of a disputed coalition that does not even make it to bring the money brought onto the street by the banks.

It is just an episode, but it fits into a pattern that started with the almost crashed chancellor’s election. The canceled judge election, the summer dispute over arms deliveries to Israel, the constant talk of a “autumn of reforms” that will not come: all of this has cost confidence.

Trust that those involved in the seriousness of the situation are aware of. Trust that this coalition will do better. Trust that this chancellor can do it.

The unnecessary mistakes cover what was decided and developed or at least on the way, whether in the investments, migration or in international relationships. In the end, politics, especially in a democracy, is also a merciless mood business. This applies in particular to these troubled times, in which populist and extreme parties have always received a influx.

Merz knows all of this, of course. In April, he was not yet a chancellor, he said: “It is important that we will improve the mood in the country by summer. The population has to notice that there is a difference when there is a new government.”

Obviously, that didn’t work out. The economy, which depends no less on moods, also remains unsettled. The hopes of growth are over.

What to do? There are no simple solutions that only lies the AfD. There is only pragmatic politics, united action, solid craft and clean communication.

And there is the courage for real reforms. The SPD must move in the civil allowance or a pension as it did in migration. At the same time, the Union should be able to talk about tax justice.

Because here too, Forsa’s numbers are clear. Even a large majority of the CDU and CSU supporters support a higher inheritance tax.

Just with the unconditional will to really dare together, except to accept debts, it will make this coalition through the autumn of distrust without landing disappointment in winter. Because if it does not turn the mood until spring, the AfD will succeed in the west in the state elections in March – and could even get absolute majorities in the east in September.

Then it would actually be Germany’s strongest strength.