They seem not to be brothers in this day and age, but a dreary and gruesome state of mind if you're a German living in Germany.
David beat me to one story the other day and, of course, I'll never forgive him for it. But it's all truly personified by the Skeletor creature they have wandering the countryside aimlessly, frightening children and threatening to take away what few freedoms 'Germans' have left, all while claiming to be the country's chancellor and in the name of defending democracy.
Yeah. Friedrich Merz.
Did Europe or Britain ever have free speech?
— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) September 16, 2026
OK, for a brief period it was tolerated.
Anyway, German chancellors preferring population control to kooky American libertarian fringe ideas like free speech, aka the First Amendment, is not exactly uncharted territory. https://t.co/ZTPTjzE6st
The man whose personal disapproval rating is so far below historical norms and has yet to see a bottom.
At the time of the Saxony-Anhalt elections two weeks ago, where his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) compatriots in the state got royally waxed by the upstart populist Alternativ for Germany party (AfD), Merz was running at a 13% approval rate.
Oh, never one to rest on his soiled laurels, the ghastly figure has bested even that for the historical record.
He's now dipped to 10.
Good Morning from Germany, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s approval rating has hit a new all-time low. Just 10% of Germans are satisfied w/his performance, while 88% are dissatisfied. Even among CDU/CSU supporters, dissatisfaction now leads 57% to 42%. For comparison, Olaf… pic.twitter.com/W6r33Tom1o
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) September 17, 2026
For comparison, Olaf Scholz’s worst reading was 23% approval and 76% disapproval.
That's in zehn.
And he can't stop poking the orange man, because it's about the only thing he's got left as he fumbles around looking for a lifeline to pull him out of the mess he's created in a record-short amount of time.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the era of “unconditional” ties between the US and Europe built since World War II are over, at least for now, the latest pronouncement of a breakdown in relations under Donald Trump’s presidency.
“This era of unconditional transatlantic friendship is probably over for the foreseeable future,” Merz told party members in Berlin on Thursday. “On the other side of the Atlantic, we are seeing a change in political attitudes, a change in the assessment of the transatlantic alliance, which we might not have thought possible.”
Merz, giving a stump speech at his conservative party headquarters ahead of the Berlin state election on Sunday, contrasted the current US relationship to past visits by American presidents to the German capital, citing famous speeches by John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
Ja, ja, TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP, as Merz knows he's probably walking into another thump thump thump in the next round of regional elections.
Notoriously leftist Berlin has been looking at polls suggesting AfD is making inroads there; no one could have predicted it even six months ago. They are within striking distance of Merz's CDU, which lost a point in this last round of polling, and only four behind the leaders, Die Linke (The Left), who are by description socialists but actually the reconstituted East German communists.
Germany, Forschungsgruppe Wahlen poll:
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) September 17, 2026
Berlin regional parliament election
LINKE (LEFT): 22% (-1)
CDU (EPP): 20% (-1)
AfD (ESN): 18% (+1)
GRÜNE (Greens/EFA): 15% (-1)
SPD (S&D): 12% (+2)
BSW (NI): 4% (+1)
+/- vs. 07-10 September 2026
Fieldwork: 14-17 September 2026
➤… pic.twitter.com/WYMd94qhKp
City's going to be in great shape with Der Linke and AfD at either end and CDU whining in the middle. Sounds like gridlock to me.
And for the CDU to block AfD from governing with any of the seats they might win, they'd have to work in coalition with? Communists!
Oh, this should be fun!
The regional elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are also on Sunday - that's the state on the Baltic Sea - and the AfD is still running neck and neck with the Social Democrats (SPD), the party of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN | Sonntagsfrage Landtagswahl Forschungsgruppe Wahlen/ZDF
— Deutschland Wählt (@Wahlen_DE) September 17, 2026
SPD: 37% (+3)
AfD: 36% (-1)
LINKE: 9% (-1)
CDU: 6% (-1)
GRÜNE: 5%
BSW: 4%
Sonstige: 3%
Änderungen zur letzten Umfrage vom 11. September 2026
Verlauf: https://t.co/UMgk9Dtnf7#ltwmv pic.twitter.com/UTM9GlIRAF
Ahead of what the press is calling 'the crisis weekend,' Merz is going to try to shove his party into a theater performance confidence vote so he can continue to muddle through.
It's quite a gamble and may not go the way he intends.
BIG: German Chancellor Merz is facing growing pressure after recent election setbacks and internal criticism.
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 17, 2026
Ahead of elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin, Merz plans to seek support from the CDU leadership in an “indirect vote of confidence” on Sunday.
Merz wants… pic.twitter.com/F8RFqr0cgg
...Merz wants backing for his reform agenda and his continuation as chancellor, while critics have raised the possibility of a leadership change.
Potential successors mentioned include North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wüst, CSU leader Markus Söder, and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.
As a matter of fact, with the stretch of luck he's been having, and the way he steps on himself every time he opens his mouth, he shouldn't even be suggesting it.
There are also other concerns which are directly related to the country and not political contests swirling in the autumn air - the energy situation.
It has been a touch-and-go ever since NordStream went burbling up to its spectacular demise, but this year the German gas reserves are at their lowest point ever going into winter.
In classic German rationalization, the government insists there isn't a problem because what they have on hand is more than all the gas they used last winter.
WHUT
Last February, Germany’s natural gas reserve fill level dipped to a worrisome 20%, but late February warmth saved the day. In September, 2025, Germany the fill level had been 73%, — a level considered too low for mid September — yet still far above this year’s measly 55%.
Under average winter temperatures, a 77% starting level is projected to be enough to keep heating running and leave around 38% in storage by spring. So currently, with only 55%, a prolonged, a severe cold spell would mean daily withdrawal demands could outpace delivery capacity, creating potential shortfalls of up to 25% on peak days in January.
The concern surrounding Germany’s current 55% gas reserve fill level stems from a combination of strict operational constraints, market incentives, and the risk of severe weather. Due to slow injection speeds over the summer, operators have consistently failed to meet that daily rate. If current filling trends continue through autumn, analysts estimate reserves will peak at onl
In response to the warnings, Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) insists that supplies remain secure. Total gas currently stored ~136 TWh still exceeds the total volume withdrawn across the entire previous winter (~134 TWh).
Unbelievable.
One German company is stepping up to try to bring capacity levels up, but 'drop in the bucket' comes to mind.
The pace is the problem. German storage was 55.9% full on Sep 14, up just 2.4 points since Sep 1, about 0.18 a day. Same date last year: 75.4%. Hold that pace to Nov 1 and Germany starts winter near 65%, ten points below the 75.1% it had going into last winter.
— Traders Of The Realm (@TradingRealms) September 16, 2026
Until Merz or whoever's in charge starts changing this...
Germany was vulnerable to an energy shock because of its obsession with 'Climate' policy, 'Net Zero', and its unhinged anti-nuclear power stance. They replaced affordability, reliability and energy security with warm, fuzzy feelings.
— Richard Dias (@RichardDias_CFA) September 16, 2026
This was catastrophic.
(Note that European… pic.twitter.com/qLNjjTMJzD
...those pesky populists are going to keep climbing the charts.
Sunday should be another interesting day of election results.
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