Merkel Might Be in Real Trouble If German Populists Win Sunday
- Far-right AfD poised for major gains in coalition-run states
- Losses may start a process that leads to government’s collapse
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First it got loud, then it got ugly at a recent campaign rally of the Alternative for Germany party in a commuter town near Berlin.
Demonstrators against the far-right group blew whistles, beat drums and blared music to try to drown them out. Then there were the jeers and signs like “only the dumbest cows choose their own butcher." The standoff reflects the ‘us-versus-them message’ that has won the populists growing support in the former communist region and now threatens to contaminate the rest of German politics.