Collin McMahon - Germany's Political Divide: AfD Breaks Through in the West in Berlin

Podcast: Hearts of Oak Podcast · heartsofoak

Opublikowano: 2026-09-21

American-German journalist Collin McMahon joins Hearts of Oak to unpack the AfD’s recent state election gains in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin. He links the results to public anger over immigration, a slumping economy, high energy prices, climate policy and what he calls woke politics, and argues the party is now growing beyond the east. Collin discusses Friedrich Merz’s “firewall” against the AfD, the CDU’s collapse below the 5% threshold in Mecklenburg, Germany’s proportional system and why other parties keep forming coalitions to keep the AfD out. He also covers AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, r...