Elections in Berlin, Israel and the USA: “I’m really worried about Eralp”

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

Friedrich Küppersbusch: Steinmeier is slowly getting into shape.

Küppersbusch: Maybe that's enough to raise the bar for his successor.

taz: On social networks, users make fun of the mainstream reporting on Elif Eralp and the Left in Berlin. Are you laughing along?

Küppersbusch: Now I'm really worried about Eralp. Pillars of our common good such as the Greens Kretschmann, Fücks, Sager and Bütikofer began their journey with the anti-constitutional cadre group “KBW”. At the height of their careers, these figures in particular made an impression with a strikingly suppository-like presentation of their political concerns; One even has to fear that origins from left-wing sects can be read as a tumor marker for the greatest ability to adapt to the right. This must not happen to Eralp.

taz: “Averted plane disaster lands in Israel’s election campaign” was the title of one of our articles. Do you have any additions to this?

Küppersbusch: Well, “Flying Reichstag Fire” would have been more tasteless. But not necessarily wrong. Even while the pilots were alternately Russian, Ukrainian, Omani, Indian, jihadist, Islamist or straight-up psychopathic - Netanyahu was already celebrating himself for competent watching. And thus distracted from the accusation of having ignored, overslept and brushed off serious warnings about Hamas terror on October 7, 2023. The German federal election campaign in 2025 was overshadowed by terrorist attacks, which were sometimes interpreted as Islamist, sometimes anti-Islamist, and which caused an emotional boom before they were fully resolved. As a result, this benefited right-wing extremists. Let's wish Israel better luck.

taz: And because we're at it: "Does the election in Saxony-Anhalt have to be repeated?" was our headline. Does she have to? Should she?

Küppersbusch: Sure, until the result is right. No, it's about the purely constitutional question of whether the state parliamentary group wrongly subsidized or financed the AfD - "Citizen Dialogues". And whether the therefore unlawful events have an influence on the election result. By the way, the AfD parliamentary group has also paid for at least 13 “citizen dialogues” in Saxony-Anhalt in 2026 before the election, which have not yet appeared in the discussion. Put together around 30 events that have little to do with “public relations work by the factions” – that’s the only thing that would be legal – and a lot to do with the glorification of Ulrich Siegmund – that would be illegal party donations. In a small federal state, 30 mass events may be considered “mandate-relevant”. In the end, the question that decides is whether the manipulation had an influence on the election result. Otherwise you just have to pay the money back and everything will be fine again. Or rather bad. Unfortunately, all I can offer is church conference nonsense: the rule of law comes first. Even if the AfD did better in new elections or got away with lies without new elections.

taz: How do you look at the midterm elections in the USA? Is a trend emerging or has it already solidified?

Küppersbusch: The Trump election victories always began with the beautiful sentence “The Democrats are clearly ahead in the polls.” Don't ask me. It's now about four parties in two: the Trumpists, the declining Republicans, the establishment Democrats and the Mamdani-OcasioCortez left. America is choosing between the survival of its political system and its destruction. The bizarre thing is that only a few people find it bizarre.

taz: Vladimir Putin spoke about the war against Ukraine and the relationship with NATO at the Valdai discussion forum in Moscow. Was there anything peace-making about it?

Küppersbusch: Putin has once again discovered a “decisive turning point” behind which an “unbridled escalation” begins, which he blames on the West and the West spurs him on. No, nothing new. The fact that Chancellor Merz suddenly appears in Kiev as Zelensky's pop-up buddy can be read as an answer: Military support for Ukraine continues. In harmony with Wadephul's and Lavrov's meeting as a sign of the uselessness of meetings, a chord emerges: help Ukraine militarily - and politically. It only took 5 years for the Germans to come up with the idea.

Küppersbusch: Test match at Arminia Bielefeld without fans, apparently they are even more dangerous than the team and were not allowed into the stadium. 2 to 2.

Friedrich Küppersbusch is a journalist, producer and autumn master.