Federal President, Bond, Böhmermann: “Aigner is a good candidate, but the election was stupid”

t az: Mr. Küppersbusch, what was bad last week?

Friedrich Küppersbusch: Chancellor Merz's presidential quiz show canceled prematurely.

Küppersbusch: Aigner doesn't reveal who will become Chancellor under her.

taz: Bavaria's Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger died unexpectedly at the age of 55. What legacy does he leave behind?

Küppersbusch: Aiwanger was the garage rock version of the expensive CSU wind orchestra. Dirty, coarse, it smelled less like traditional jackets than like lederhosen. That's why it remained a regional phenomenon; His concept of “the party for everyone who does not dare to vote for the AfD” fails in the face of the brainchildren BSW and Kubicki-FDP. Now Söder's CSU will collect a few percentage points from Aiwanger's legacy, and at the same time he is praising his toughest competitor Aigner. It's not that easy for Söder to switch back and forth between laughing and crying so precisely in a week.

taz: In the midterm elections, the USA was overrun by a blue wave, it is said to be the beginning of the end for Donald Trump. So is everything okay again now?

Küppersbusch: Woke up: It has a redeeming effect – but it’s treacherous. First: There have been a hail of “firsties”: first indigenous female senator, first Latino governor, first Muslim senator, many other upheavals. The result can be read as remarkably woke, but at the same time it is extremely old-fashioned: fuel prices, “affordability”, expensive consequences of war. Essentially, Clinton's '92 claim decided the '26 midterms: "It's the economy, stupid!" It would therefore be a fallacy to want to fight the AfD with candidacies that are particularly correct in terms of identity politics. They are only the result, not the cause of the change. Secondly, anyone who is now shouting that, like Trump, the AfD must also be given the chance to expose itself through government action is gambling with a high stake: our democracy. In the USA, it wasn't the checks and balances that worked, but rather the electorate. Third: A president who is disempowered in domestic policy can become radicalized in foreign policy. There is still a lot to be expected from him. And the Democrats have won the election, now they just need the right program and the right person.

taz: On Monday the CDU presidium will negotiate what everyone already knows: Ilse Aigner should become Federal President. A good choice?

Küppersbusch: No, Aigner is a good candidate, but the election was stupid. Friedrich Merz is not a master of personnel policy, as he demonstrated during his big cabinet reshuffle. Another basic political rule: “If you can’t stop a development, you have to lead it.” The CSU has a proportion of 20 to 25 percent women - from mere membership to the state group in the Bundestag. Aigner serves her right.

taz: In the USA, a much more interesting personality is being negotiated for many: the next James Bond. Who do you see in the iconic role?

Küppersbusch: Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer would still be there. Debates that it could be spectacularly a woman or at least a black man are stranded by the rumored names of very young white male applicants. The strictest criterion of the Broccoli family of producers and the new co-owner Amazon MGM: “Britishness”. King Charles or a tea bag.

taz: Comedian meets President. On Wednesday, Jan Böhmermann surprisingly interviewed Volodymyr Selenskyj for the audience. How did you find it?

Küppersbusch: Given away. First question “We were both entertainers once, what the hell happened?” could have been an exciting person-centered interview if at least Böhmermann had been interested in his question. Finally, something was said about the singer James Blunt, who happened to be staying in the same hotel and who appreciates Zelensky. In between, 30 minutes of “Marietta Slomka had a bad day,” partisan questions about Taurus weapons, Trump and Musk, the war. The fact that Zelenskyj then provides his well-written text modules is not to be blamed. How did the “Servant of the People” series hero come to invent warfare through worldwide video interviews, carefully selected costumes, performance as a weapon – not a word about it in the conversation between two TV professionals. What was it like to end up in the legendary White House fireplace room with TV professional Trump in his “Apprentice” format? Such an “Inside View of a Comedian” interview was within the realm of possibility. It stayed there. In many intercuts, Böhmermann's face appears in an "I'm parodying a particularly critical journalist" pose, which just seems inappropriate given the warlike themes. She made the authentic-looking Zelenskyj more likeable by the minute. When he talked about his skiing vacation in Ischgl before the war, Böhmermann had no questions about his involvement in tax fraud and pandora papers. At this point at the latest I wished for a boring journalist interview.

Küppersbusch: Nothing new in the west: Viktoria Köln, MSV Duisburg, RW Essen. And then already six points behind the pursuers. Unfortunately, like every year, this is too good not to hope for promotion. Questions: Carolina Schwarz

Friedrich Küppersbusch is a journalist, producer and can also imagine a senior bond.