CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet apologized for his laughter in the flood area on the ZDF program “Klartext”. He was annoyed about it, but could not undo it.
Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet has expressly apologized for his massively criticized laugh on the edge of a joint appearance with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the flood disaster. Steinmeier stood relatively far away at the time, “I didn’t hear what he was talking about,” said the CDU boss on Thursday evening in the ZDF program “Klartext” in response to questions from a citizen affected by the flood. “Someone next to me made a stupid remark. And I laughed about it. That annoys me. That was stupid, but I can’t undo it.”
Laschet admitted: “Stupid. The picture looks stupid. But it was a mistake, that’s clear.” After the flood disaster, he canceled all appointments, drove to the flood area in North Rhine-Westphalia and heard many stories, said the NRW Prime Minister. “And you can believe me that this affects me,” he asserts.
When it came to the question of what explanation he had for the disastrous polling figures of the Union, he replied: “We notice that it is going to be close.” The voters would decide – “and I recommend that we simply wait for these 17 days now. Let the voters, and people who are not representative, decide. And then we can see what it looks like on election evening.”
The family question throws Laschet off his feet
In the show, Laschet was mostly affectionate, understanding, and responded to the questions. When, following statements by a woman affected by the flood, he described how he was addressing the problems related to the shortage of craftsmen in the reconstruction, there was applause.
Laschet answered questions on the subject of security or hate speech on the Internet – classic core issues of the conservative Christian Democrats – clearly and directly. When a woman affected by Long-Covid told him that a possibly effective drug could not be used, probably because a corresponding application had remained in a ministry, the CDU boss promised to take care of it.
The candidate got into a bit of a swim when a lawyer from Berlin described her problem: After her wife gave birth to their son last year, the child will only be given one legal parent – the Union prevents equal treatment with a heterosexual couple . Laschet then spoke of a great many detailed discussions on this family law question and, after some back and forth, said that if you were to answer this case, you would also have to answer questions about adoption law. Laschet could not satisfy the questioner – in view of the many conservatives in his party, he seemed to be in a quandary here.
“I don’t want to join another coalition as a junior partner”
Finally, Laschet should then answer the question of whether he could imagine becoming Vice Chancellor of an SPD head of government Olaf Scholz. “Now let’s do everything we can to be the first to cross the finish line,” replied the CDU man. All strength must be used on this.
When asked about a statement by CSU boss Markus Söder, who said that if the Union was not number one, then it would not be elected, Laschet was not lured out of the reserve: “I would now recommend everyone to do everything that we are in first place. ” If-then questions “do not really fit into a political landscape” – if everyone says this, “then at some point we will not be able to govern”. In the end, however, he emphasized: “I don’t want to join another coalition as a junior partner. And I want to fight to ensure that we have the majority and then also provide the Federal Chancellor.”
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