Chronicle of an Announced Coup

I couldn’t have told you until just now who the German Foreign Minister is. In my mind, this position was held until recently by that international law expert who so spectacularly embarrassed Germany abroad.

I hear that she is still doing so, and more grandly than ever. But now especially in New York and at the UN. (After she apparently cut off the competent and designated diplomat in a rather nasty action, proving: „Women are not the better people“.)

Germany is currently being embarrassed in the world by Mr. Dr. Wadephul – who is simultaneously dismantling the idea of democracy in his own country.

In the Bundestag, Mr. Dr. Wadephul said this Wednesday:

Such ideologies have led Germany to ruin multiple times, and we will never allow you to take responsibility for this country. Never! (bundestag.de; Speech from 17.9.2025)

It is a paradigmatic example of the self-contradiction and practical deceit that are otherwise characteristic of the rhetoric of „good people“ and the totalitarian spirit of „Our Democracy.“ Let me explain analytically!

Inciting Oath of Office

The first part of the sentence reads: „Such ideologies have led Germany to ruin multiple times.“

It implicitly sounds to me like a case of „Accuse the other of what you are guilty of yourself.“

Meanwhile, it is an international topic how politicians from the „Our Democracy“ faction are undermining the values of democracy. When Dr. Wadephul says „we,“ I hear „the old cadres.“

Dr. Wadephul had previously accused the opposition of bringing in „chauvinism and nationalism“ as their only content.

We know that the Our Democracy cadres, when they speak of „hate and incitement,“ are referring to criticism of the government and the demand for compliance with existing law.

Similarly, „chauvinism and nationalism“ sounds like a coded defamation of the oath of office of German ministers and chancellors. „I swear that I will dedicate my strength to the welfare of the German people, increase its benefits, avert harm from it…“ – according to the interpretation of the Our Democracy cadres, this can easily be understood as „chauvinism and nationalism.“

Impressive Somersault

However, if these are indeed anti-democratic endeavors, the second part of the sentence is quite an impressive somersault on the trampoline of political rhetoric.

„We“ – meaning the old cadres – „will never allow you to take responsibility for this country. Never!“

Note the words „never“ and „Never.“

Actually, the most important and decisive characteristic of a democracy is that power changes are regulated and peacefully possible when the voter determines it in free elections.

Well, in Germany, democracy has been bent and dismantled by established powers for some time.

When opposition candidates have a real chance of success, they are sometimes excluded from the election. (For the case of the dissident Joachim Paul, who was excluded from the election in an anti-democratic manner, see the essay „Ludwigshafen Teaches to Let Go of Democracy“.)

Preventive Coup

And the Ludwigshafen attack on democracy is not the first such case. It is still a mockery of the voters that the renamed party of wall murders and torture prisons receives a position as Vice President of the Bundestag, while the conservative opposition does not.

We remember with horror in the marrow of our democratic bones that this former FDJ functionary declared an election result in Thuringia a few years ago as „unforgivable.“ (See also the essay „Can Merkel’s Germany Call Itself ‚Democracy‘? „.)

So when the Foreign Minister Mr. Dr. Wadephul declares as a member of the Bundestag that they would „never“ allow the AfD to „take responsibility for this country,“ it is rational to interpret „never“ as independent of the election result.

The exclusion of opposition candidates from elections is a form of „preventive coup.“ And when a politician from the party that also provides the Chancellor openly announces that they would „never“ allow the opposition to come into political responsibility, it sounds to me like the open suspension of democracy in Germany.

Just Pretext and Trick?

At this point in my thoughts, however, I find myself facing a dilemma, an ethical impossibility. Two of my principles contradict each other. On one hand, I do not want to end an essay by saying that everything is terrible and there is no way out. It is the philosopher’s task, as Wittgenstein said, to show the fly the way out of the fly bottle. On the other hand, I do not want to lie. We have truly had enough of lies today.

So what to do? I must rapidly change the subject and subtly hint that it has all been a clever plan, that all politics and outrage were just pretext and trick, seduction to something higher, once again.

Friends, since I do not know better, I will change the subject at the end and tell you which song I have been listening to lately. It is, on repeat since yesterday, the song In the Garden by Bob Dylan (see YouTube).

„When they came for Him in the garden, did they know?“ Bob Dylan asks right in the first line. In German, very freely translated: When they took him in the garden, did they know?

(I ponder: What do we not know today that knowing it – and being aware of it – would turn our lives 180 degrees on multiple levels at once? I then imagine: Such a multidimensional turnaround, that would be an experience with unforeseeable physical consequences!)