Hundreds of far-right activists recently trying to storm the German Parliament was only the latest evidence that Donald Trump is emerging as a kind of cult figure in Germany’s increasingly varied far-right scene.
Just before hundreds of far-right activists recently tried to storm the German Parliament, one of their leaders revved up the crowd by conjuring President Donald Trump.
“Trump has become a saviour figure, a sort of great redeemer for the German far right,” said Miro Dittrich, an expert on far-right extremism at the Berlin-based Amadeu-Antonio-Foundation. Mr Trump’s appeal to the political fringe has now added a new and unpredictable element to German politics at a time when the domestic intelligence agency has identified far-right extremism and far-right terrorism as the biggest risks to German democracy.
Matthias Quent, an expert on Germany’s far right and the director of an institute that studies democracy and civil society, calls it the “Trumpification of the German far right". Nationalist populists in Germany have long welcomed the presence of one of their own, as they see it, in the White House. Mr Trump’s language and ideology have helped legitimise theirs.
On the streets of Berlin last weekend, there were Q flags and T-shirts and several banners inscribed with “WWG1WGA,” a coded acronym for Q’s hallmark motto, “Where we go one, we go all". The largest German-language QAnon channel on YouTube, Qlobal-Change, has over 17 million views and has quadrupled its following on Telegram to over 124,000 since the coronavirus lockdown in March, he said.
One of them is the “great replacement,” which claims that Ms Merkel and other governments have been deliberately bringing in immigrants to subvert Germany’s ethnic and cultural identity. They do not recognise Germany’s post-World War II Federal Republic and are counting on Mr Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia to sign a “peace treaty” to liberate Germans from their own government.
“Trump is someone who has been fighting the global ‘deep state’ for years,” Mr Hildmann said in an interview this past week.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Faux-Bama: Donald Trump hired a black actor so he could pretend to tell Barack Obama, 'You're fired'The US president's former lawyer Michael Cohen says Donald Trump held such disdain for Barack Obama that he “ritualistically belittled the first black president” in a parody video.
Read more »
Bizarre reason this man was booted from empty stadiumNow this was an out-of-the-box ejection ... involving a man way up in a luxury suite! 9WWOS
Read more »
Boats taking part in a pro-Donald Trump parade sink at Lake Travis in TexasA Texas boat parade in support of US President Donald Trump's re-election campaign ran into trouble on Saturday, as multiple vessels took on water or sank.
Read more »
Scott Morrison is yearning for a Donald Trump victoryIf Biden is elected this November, we will be on track for a collision course with our American ally in a number of areas on climate.
Read more »
Donald Trump slams Kamala Harris over 'reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric'US President Donald Trump on Monday again hinted a coronavirus vaccine will be available before November's election, as he accused his Democratic rivals for the White House of undermining public confidence in the immunisation.
Read more »
Osama bin Laden’s niece endorses TrumpThe distant niece of Osama bin Laden has endorsed President Donald Trump for re-election, warning a similar attack could happen again if he loses.
Read more »