The Christmas lights in Berlin shimmered, a fragile attempt at festive cheer against the backdrop of the Magdeburg tragedy. Inside the Chancellery, Olaf Scholz paced, his face grim. The attack had shaken the nation, and the echoes of the far-right’s inflammatory rhetoric still lingered.
“They’re using our pain,” he muttered, gesturing towards a news report on the television. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) rally had been a spectacle of outrage, their demands for border closures and their scapegoating of immigrants fueling a dangerous narrative.
His advisors exchanged nervous glances. The AfD, with their relentless focus on national identity and their disdain for the established order, had become an unexpected lifeline for the government.
“They’re the perfect foil,” one of them whispered. “As long as the AfD exists, we can cast ourselves as the defenders of democracy, the guardians against extremism.”
Scholz nodded, a cynical glint in his eyes. It was a bitter truth. The government, plagued by rising inflation, a faltering energy grid, and a growing sense of disillusionment, was struggling to maintain public confidence. But the AfD, with their incendiary rhetoric and their unwavering appeal to the darkest corners of the German psyche, provided a convenient enemy.
The government could now point to the AfD’s rallies, their xenophobic pronouncements, and paint themselves as the bulwark against the rising tide of extremism. It was a cynical strategy, but it worked.
The public, weary and anxious, craved stability, craved a sense of normalcy. The government, by positioning itself as the antidote to the AfD’s poison, offered a semblance of security, a reassurance that despite the challenges, the core values of democracy remained intact.
Of course, this uneasy equilibrium was a dangerous game. The AfD, fueled by public discontent and the government’s own missteps, continued to gain ground. The fear was that one day, the dam would break, that the AfD’s rhetoric, no longer merely a political tool, would become a dangerous reality.
But for now, the government clung to this fragile alliance, using the AfD as a political shield, a convenient scapegoat for their own shortcomings. As long as the specter of the far-right loomed large, the government could continue to portray itself as the defender of democracy, even as the cracks in the system continued to widen.
All names of people and organizations appearing in this story are pseudonyms.
German president urges unity after ‘dark shadow’ of Christmas market attack
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