The world is spinning faster, but where is it headed? What seemed undeniable yesterday is now being questioned, distorted, and manipulated. The past disappears, memory is erased, and in the end, a new reality emerges—one shaped not by facts, but by interests. Orwell foresaw it all: "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth."
The political landscape of Europe and the United States is caught in a dangerous spiral. In Germany, the far-right AfD is gaining ground, a party whose rhetoric is steeped in ethnic nationalism. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Trump and his allies are waging a ruthless war against reality itself. As Bishop Bätzing reminds us that Christianity and nationalism are irreconcilable, powerful networks have long been working to intertwine the two—within the CDU, think tanks, and media outlets.
And this is where the real problem lies: Truth itself is under siege. The lines between legitimate conservative politics and far-right extremism are blurring.
Anyone who critically investigates, who exposes connections and reveals abuses, is immediately labeled a "leftist activist." It’s a deliberate strategy: facts are dismissed, inconvenient journalism is discredited, and every revelation is framed as politically motivated. But the real danger lies elsewhere—when the distinction between well-founded critique and baseless speculation vanishes.
The AfD is celebrating electoral victories across nearly all regions—a clear sign of ideological shifts in parts of society. But does this automatically mean that the CDU is on an irreversible path toward Trumpism? Yes, there are transatlantic networks, and yes, there are deliberate efforts to transplant American ideological movements into Europe. But there is a vast difference between verifiable connections and the assertion that the CDU/CSU is being controlled by Trump’s strategists.
When investigative journalism relies too heavily on speculation, when it raises more questions than it answers, it plays directly into the hands of those who dismiss all criticism as "thinly substantiated news." True investigative work must be bulletproof. If you construct narratives based on suspicions rather than hard evidence, you don’t just weaken the debate—you end up empowering those who thrive on disinformation.
Equally misleading is the idea that the oil and gas industry is the all-powerful force behind nearly every conservative movement and U.S.-Germany relations. Yes, there are verifiable ties between fossil fuel companies and certain networks. Yes, economic interests influence political decision-making. But the reality is far more complex than an all-encompassing conspiracy theory. Not every conservative trend can be traced back to fossil fuel money—political developments arise from a web of factors, not a single, monolithic cause.
Meanwhile, Trump, just minutes ago, continued to push the world deeper into chaos. “Canada needs America, America does not need Canada.” The U.S. is not a free-trade nation but a victim, he rants on Truth Social. “The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!” These are not the words of a statesman—they are calculated attacks designed to divide a globalized world. While diplomats struggle to negotiate trade agreements, while experts work to maintain fragile economic relationships, Trump launches yet another assault on America’s allies.
His goal is clear: isolationism, nationalism, and maximum confrontation. If you don’t fit into his worldview, you become the enemy—and by now, that extends far beyond China or Mexico. Canada, the UK, and the EU are now in his crosshairs. Trump’s allies in Germany have already adopted his rhetoric. A political strategy once considered unthinkable is being normalized step by step.
The same principle is at play in Germany, where Alice Weidel takes the floor at a Bundestag emergency session, proclaiming: “Climate change is climate hysteria.” “Mr. Merz, you will not be Chancellor!” And political correctness? According to the AfD, it “belongs in the trash heap of history.” Meanwhile, Björn Höcke takes it even further: “The real problem is that Hitler is portrayed as the ultimate evil.”
This rhetoric is no longer just crude provocation—it’s a deliberate strategy. Step by step, the unthinkable is injected into public discourse until it no longer shocks, until it is viewed as just another opinion.
And Friedrich Merz is playing along. The CDU is drifting toward the far right, and Merz is increasingly adopting a tone that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Speaking about migrants, he claims: "They sit in doctors' offices getting their teeth fixed." And about his own policies? He promises to govern once again for the "rational majority"—for those who, in his words, "have all their marbles"—and not for "any of these green and left-wing lunatics in this world."
Let that sink in. A man seen as a potential German Chancellor is legitimizing rhetoric that pushes his own party to the right while eroding the democratic discourse itself. What Trump has successfully pioneered in the U.S.—the politics of division, demagoguery, and manufactured chaos—has fully arrived in Germany.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin continues his war on Ukraine with a cold-blooded brutality not seen in decades. His army bombs civilian targets, massacres innocent people, and commits war crimes on a daily basis. Torture, abductions, and the systematic destruction of entire cities—these are not collateral damages, they are Putin’s strategy. His goal is absolute attrition, a scorched-earth policy where every moral boundary has long been obliterated. And while Europe still debates its response, the reality is clear: Putin has not only attacked Ukraine—he is testing the West’s resolve.
So what remains when truth and lies become indistinguishable? When the lines between investigative journalism and political manipulation blur? Orwell had the answer long ago: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
In times like these, a clear head is more crucial than ever. Not every conservative policy is a precursor to fascism, but at the same time, one thing must be absolutely clear: Nazis and far-right extremists must be purged from the political landscape. Anyone who flirts with ethnic nationalism, who knowingly aligns with authoritarian ideologies, does not belong in a democratic system.
We are walking a fine line between truth and propaganda, between justified concern and outright alarmism. Democracy is on trial. And those who wish to preserve it must stand firm—armed with facts, clarity, and the courage to resist every form of extremism.
English 
German 
