The German election campaign has been entirely lacking in substance. Laschet, Baerbock, Scholz: none seem to grip the public’s attention. None are good enough to stand out, yet none are bad enough to drop out as the media and the opposition struggle to land definitive blows. Amid the monotony of political circus and sclerosis, the German press’s tactics are becoming increasingly outlandish, as two 11-year-old children asking questions about land requisition processes on television showed.
A particular segment on the talk show Late Night Berlin is responsible: the idea is that children ask politicians questions. In the last episode, broadcast on Tuesday, Merkel’s would-be successor Armin Laschet was made to sit in a tent on a tiny chair, surrounded by stuffed toys and fairy lights, visibly uncomfortable. Here was a 60-year-old, clad in a suit and tie, wedged in between his inquisitors for the evening, Romeo and Pauline, both 11.
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