"Kevin Kühnert is not the brightest candle on the Social Democrats' cake"

"Kevin Kühnert is not the brightest candle on the Social Democrats' cake" RP ONLINE 22 hrs ago. Düsseldorf. On "Lanz", the guests mainly discussed the formation of a coalition after the Bundestag elections. While SPD Secretary General Lars Klingbeil noticeably courted FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the latter could not refrain from repeatedly jibing against the SPD. On Tuesday evening, the talk show "Markus Lanz" dealt with the Bundestag elections. The predominant topic was various possible constellations in the formation of a government. The guests: Order RP ONLINE newsletter Voice of the West now for free Lars Klingbeil, SPD Secretary-General Herbert Reul, CDU Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Member of the FDP Federal Executive Committee Robin Alexander, "Welt" political expert What it was about: Government formation after the Bundestag elections, Laschet's failure to congratulate Olaf Scholz on his election victory, poor CDU election results, armed drones. The talk course: "Where is the journey going?", this question is repeated several times by moderator Markus Lanz during the candidate presentation, before he congratulates Lars Klingbeil on the SPD's successful election campaign and then turns to FDP politician Marie Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, whom he subsequently describes in her role as "a kind of tour guide at the highest level" in the coalition negotiations. Lars Klingbeil again emphasises his party's claim to leadership and says that the SPD executive board has clearly and unanimously decided "that we want to negotiate with the Greens and with the FDP, that we want to form a government". Klingbeil had already formally informed the respective parties. However, the SPD has "firmly resolved" that "these talks will be conducted differently than they were for the Jamaica coalition". To a large extent under exclusion of the public, which means: no photos, no reports, no interviews. A discussion on election campaign etiquette arises when Markus Lanz asks for Armin Laschet's congratulations to Olaf Scholz - which have not been forthcoming so far. "I'm not used to that," says Klingbeil. Journalist Robin Alexander interjects that Laschet has already "congratulated all the parties that have made gains". Not the same for Lars Klingbeil. Interior Minister Herbert Reul intervenes and calls the debate "silly". Strack-Zimmermann finally resolves it humorously by congratulating Lanz, who persistently continues to probe, on winning the German Television Prize. The round is dedicated to the problems of the CDU and the freshly re-elected for six months CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus, during whose election there is said to have almost been an éclat. "If Laschet was strong, he would have reached for the parliamentary group chair himself," Klingbeil says. "He was too weak for that." In the Union, fighting would almost be on the open stage, says Robin Alexander. "But Laschet is still in the game." Both he and Strack-Zimmermann find the demands for resignation of "individual MPs" against Laschet, as Reul puts it, highly inappropriate. Then, surprisingly, the FDP politician praises Reul as an "excellent interior minister". Marie Agnes Strack-Zimmermann could hardly make her sympathies for Jamaica clearer when she continues to emphasise the many points of intersection between the party programmes of the FDP and CDU. However, she denies a preference when asked. Nevertheless, she repeatedly fires against the SPD in the course of the evening. Among other things with the sentence: "Kevin Kühnert is not the brightest candle on the cake of the Social Democrats." She sets the tone in this broadcast. Reul is conspicuously reticent. Journalist Alexander emphasises later in the evening that he does not rule out a rapprochement between the CDU and the Greens, on the contrary. That he considers a Jamaica coalition the most likely constellation. Then Reul finally got into a flow of words and criticised his own party. It had become comfortable, he said, and had been developing in a direction for some years that was "not exactly worthy of an award". "Just providing the chancellor is not enough." Lanz likes the topic, and the second half of the show is mainly about the CDU's mistakes in the election campaign. Lanz persistently asks about the consequences. Reul defends Laschet and says he would find it "irresponsible" if the candidate for chancellor were to leave now. The "Welt" journalist also presses Reul. For Strack-Zimmermann, the "crack" in the CDU came when Angela Merkel gave up the party chair.