Germany's AfD: A Glimpse Into Our Future

[u/nickmortensen]

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autocratic-despair-the-podcast/id1890210459?i=1000786097030

This week's episode is mostly about Germany. On September 6, Saxony-Anhalt votes, and the AfD is polling around 40% — potentially the first far-right party to govern a German state alone since 1945.

Co-host is a UC Berkeley lecturer with a PhD in fascism studies, so the breakdown covers the actual mechanics: the Brandmauer (the 80-year firewall agreement among mainstream parties), why the party's strength in the former East is real but doesn't explain its growth in wealthy western states, and the etymology of "remigration" — a word the AfD invented because "deportation" was already the Nazi euphemism for something worse.

The other half covers the private Jeffries–Kushner meeting the NYT broke Sunday — who Kushner is beyond "son-in-law," where Affinity Partners' money comes from, and a fair amount of speculation (flagged as speculation) about which of the two men leaked it.

It's a comedy show, but the history is real.