In the “phoenix personal” program, Jörg Thadeusz talks to Oliver Welke, author and satirist, about his life in Bonn, the “heute-show” and his view of politics.
“This may not come across enough in the show, but I have the greatest respect for every single parliamentarian,” says Oliver Welke, presenter of the “heute-show”. “Also in front of ministries, in front of state secretaries and especially the Federal Chancellor,” Welke continued. “It’s just an absurd, grueling workload. That’s why I’m so sorry that in the general clamor of “those up there” the fact that they are the last people who can be accused of enriching themselves and doing nothing for it is completely lost.
In the satirical “heute-show”, which has been shown on ZDF on Friday evenings for 15 years now, they would “definitely dish it out in all directions”, explains Welke. “All I can tell you is that Robert Habeck hasn’t spoken to us for many months. So when our reporters were outside, he kept running. Similar to how some Union politicians, namely Friedrich Merz, have now made it a point to run away from us, he did that too.” As with every satirical program, it has also been the case on the “heute-show” in the last three years “The parties currently in government received more in percentage terms than opposition parties, including the AfD. Of course, for reasons of parity, I cannot pretend that the AfD is a completely normal party. That’s not possible.”
With regard to dealing with the AfD, Welke explains: “Issues like the AfD, which are and will continue to be recurring, then at some point you have to realize that you yourself – this is not just an accusation against politicians – left it too much at simply saying, “Be careful, they’re very right-wing!”
The exciting phenomenon, said Welke, referring to the parliamentary elections in Austria, “is that, especially now in Austria, we have two parties, the FPÖ and AfD, in German-speaking countries of all places, that no longer have to try to buck the trend in Europe , to appear somehow more moderate, but they are successful because they have become more radical. In German-speaking countries of all places. I don’t have an answer to that yet and I don’t know exactly why it works so differently. So, in France or Italy the secret of success is exactly the opposite. What does this tell us about ourselves? And why is that so?”
Broadcast dates of “phoenix personal”:
“heute-show” presenter Oliver Welke visits Jörg Thadeusz
October 5, 2024, 12 a.m
October 5th, 2024, 7:30 p.m
October 6, 2024, 11:30 a.m
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