Now, now, now... not so fast young grasshopper. Hendrik Wüst was a founding of the so-called Einstein connection, a cabal of conservative CDU/CSU politicians including Markus Söder (who has also distanced himself from Merz' statement btw), Philipp Mißfelder, and Stefan Mappus who wanted their party move further to the right again... well, not just that right. But I guess in a time when the Overton window has been pushed that far all over the democratic nations that the likes of Brian Kemp have now almost become regarded as tree-hugging commie liberals, I guess it is only natural to incorectly assume that Wüst must be one too.
It doesn't matter. Germany has entered the same situation as we have in the Netherlands and many other European countries have it: the era of the mathematical impossibility of a center-right coalition. The idea that the Union and FDP can form a majority coalition again anytime soon is completely off the table due to AfD's size and the fact that it has mainly won over right-wing voters. This means excluding AfD equals the Union and FDP surrendering themselves to endless GroKos, traffic lights, or Jamaicas. At some point, right-wing voters are going to be done with that, and they will want cooperation (even if only on a tacit, confidence and supply basis). It even happened in Sweden. I don't believe Germany is (or has ever been) a
Sonderfall and I think it is only a matter of time before Germany will follow most of Europe. The CDU could delay it by moving rightwards on immigration, though, and putting its money where its mouth is - the way the Danish Social Democrats have wiped out the Danish People's Party. Difficult to see how that could happen with SPD or the Greens, though. This is essentially the issue that made the Dutch government collapse and it will put pressure on German politics, too.
Well, CDU/CSU moved considerably to the right since the Grand Coalition is over and look who has benefited the most from that...
Because the Union lacks credibility. This will take time.
