But today, Germany is staring at a surging far right – and the country’s mainstream politicians and democratic citizens, still by far the lion’s share of the population, are understandably rattled. Since then it has veered steadily to the far right, where its members tout barely veiled racism and Islamophobia. But studies show that time and again the accommodation of radical right positions benefits the hard right – and not its imitators. Moreover, democrats of all stripes should expose the far right’s populist arguments for what they are: exaggerations, falsehoods and demagoguery. Germany’s ascendent far right shows that all of Europe – and beyond, including the US – could be at a tipping point.

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Persons: Paul Hockenos, ”, Paul Hockenos Hayyan, Adolf Hitler’s, Reich, Alice Weidel, –, Ulrich Perrey, Holstein Daniel Günther, Vladimir Putin’s, Austria –, Germany’s Organizations: CNN, Berlin CNN, Parliament, Research, Brandeis University Locations: Berlin, New Berlin, Hungary, Italy, Finland, Germany, Schwerin, Schleswig, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Austria, Europe