Sahra Wagenknecht Under Fire: A Tense TV Confrontation with Caren Miosga
Personality Cult, Reichsbürger Rhetoric, and Closeness to Russia: Sahra Wagenknecht Responds to Serious Allegations
Is it Possible to Create a State with Sahra Wagenknecht?
On Sunday night, “Caren Miosga” focused on the party that could soon play an important role in the formation of governments in Thuringia and Saxony: the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). The topic of the night was “Is it possible to create a state with you, Ms. Wagenknecht?”
The Cult of Personality: A Concern for the BSW
Miosga’s questions were initially about the subject of a cult of personality surrounding Sahra Wagenknecht. The moderator wanted to know why the BSW was named after her, and why there were so many merchandise items with her picture on them.
Wagenknecht explained that her name was used because she was “well known” and people knew what she stood for. She also stated that the merchandise items were proposed by her party to prevent others from doing so.
Internal Party Structures and the Cult of Personality
Miosga was also interested in the subject of the cult of personality in terms of internal party structures. She wanted to know why Wagenknecht no longer gives a free hand to her main candidates in Saxony and Thuringia when she demands equal rights in the party.
Wagenknecht made it clear that the coalition negotiations would be led by the best candidates, but she would like to get a personal impression of the future Prime Minister to feel whether he has an “honest application”.
Reichsbürger Rhetoric and the Description of Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Miosga also took a close look at Wagenknecht’s rhetoric on Sunday night. In the context of the deployment of US medium-range missiles in Germany, the head of BSW recently described Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “vassal chancellor”.
Wagenknecht replied that Scholz’s decisions have ”conveyed relatively little backbone and personal stature”. Miosga explained that describing the Federal Chancellor as a vassal of the victorious powers was also a popular approach of “Reich Citizens”.
Comparison with Right-Wing Rhetoric
Miosga pointed out that right-wing AfD Björn Höcke had also recently used the term “vassal”. Wagenknecht replied that Höcke was cheering about the necessary bloodshed and the so-called emigration of 20 to 30 people from Germany, and that Mioska’s comparison with her rhetoric was an ”underground culture of discussion”.