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Richard's avatar

The German lesson for Democrats is to keep a tame conservative party around that will implement center-left policies even if they win. The FDP was punished for collaboration and is excluded from the new Bundestag. However, that ship has sailed in the US. It has sailed in the UK too where the landslide victory of Starmer Labour got less votes than the landslide defeat of Corbyn Labour. UK Conservatives simply stayed home or voted Reform. We will see what happens in France and Austria where firewall government is in effect. Democrats seem to be following the Romanian approach of using the courts to nullify elections. That may work but is extremely destabilizing. The previous Democratic strategy of boosting "extreme" candidates in the Republican primaries has already failed.

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Ed Smeloff's avatar

The results of the German election and the more recent decision of Germany's mainstream political politics to abandon economic austerity are signs of support for strengthening the European Union, doubling down on opposing Putin's revanchism and advancing clean energy development. The German election and Macron's renewed popularity points to a longer term decoupling of Europe's economic and security policies from the United States as we abandon our role as leader of the free world.

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