Ulf Poschardt: “Common sense has been driven out of the Left”
The Welt editor talks about his left-wing past, his fans in the East, the “bullshit discourse” surrounding Elon Musk’s AfD text and the rumor that he is lonely.
Ulf Poschardt invites us into his narrow, cluttered office. The bookshelves are piled high with illustrated books (art and Formula 1), left-wing thinkers (Michel Foucault, Slavoj Zizek) and right-wing thinkers (Ernst Jünger). On the floor are an unfinished Coke, dumbbells, and two stacks of yellow volumes. Poschardt's bestseller "Shitbürgertum" (Shit Citizenship), one in the version he published himself because a publisher had canceled shortly before printing, and one in the version that was published by a publisher after all.
The book is a reckoning with people who define themselves as left-wing or green, who work in culture, the media, or government agencies, and who, Poschardt believes, have accumulated too much power in Germany. He polemicizes and provokes in it, as one might expect from his editorials or posts on X. This milieu annoys him, and he has decided to annoy them back—and in doing so, has written a book of the moment.
He starts talking immediately, and it's almost impossible to stop him. When he proofreads the interview before publication, he adds the word "laughs" a few times. All one can say to that is: True. Ulf Poschardt was in a very good mood during the interview.
Ulf Poschardt: “I’m not afraid of anyone”Mr. Poschardt, we actually wanted to have a debate with you and someone who disagrees with your theories. We approached the Greens, the Left Party, and the Conservatives, but only received rejections. Why doesn't anyone want to talk to you?
Because I'm annoying.
They laugh.
No, seriously, there's a stereotype that I'm a rather unpleasant conversationalist. I don't get it. I'm happy to talk to everyone and I'm not afraid of anyone. On the contrary, I enjoy arguments. I consider it a great compliment when a famous podcaster says to me: Ulf, you're a wild horse. If you gallop off, no one can stop you.
As a reason for not inviting you?
That's the way it is.
In your new book, you describe large sections of the German middle class as far too pro-government, oversensitive, and moralizing. And you claim that these people all earn their living from jobs in the civil service, public broadcasting, or state-funded NGOs, and that they set the tone of debates in the country. Is no one fighting back?
There were two clever left-wing reviews. The one in the Frankfurter Rundschau was really nasty, but clever. At the time, my book was compared to Habeck's; people said Poschardt was more unpleasant, but perhaps more intelligent than Habeck. I thought that was great. What surprised me was that my sound has barely changed, but the political, cultural, and media discourse has become so sterilized that even polemics that used to be taken for granted on the left now have a completely different impact. That's why my sound is suddenly being perceived differently and is apparently attracting positive attention. I would never have imagined that the self-published book would sell almost 40,000 copies and has now entered the Spiegel bestseller list at number three. I'm simply delighted.
Do the people it's about read it?
The fans are just as annoyed by this environment as I am. I've received and answered thousands of messages. To reach the others, I decided to also sell the book in regular bookstores, through a publisher. Bookstores are cathedrals of scumbags. But there are stores that refuse to carry the book ( laughs ). My mother was turned away from a bookstore in Nuremberg when she asked for it. They said we don't carry anything like that here.
That could be because of the title, right?
I like playing with language, but when I came up with the title, I was thinking more of Schildbürger (literally "Schildbürger"). And of Javier Milei, the Argentinian president, who calls the left in his country " mierda" (meaning "shit"). I wanted to encourage disrespect toward this milieu because it has developed such an impressive respect for itself. People walk through reality on their own pedestal of superiority. Simply ridiculous. My criticism is, of course, strongly influenced by my background, the milieu in which I grew up.
Ulf Poschardt: “Through my father I understood that this normality does not exist”What has influenced you?
The interesting thing about bourgeois identity is that the bourgeoisie always sees itself in normative terms. It's normal to have parents who take you to school before they go to work themselves, to play tennis, to travel the world. My father was the only working-class child in his class at his Bavarian grammar school. The bourgeois children said: Of course you go on a skiing holiday, of course you wear a suit. My father didn't have a suit. As a Social Democrat, he constantly saw this as an insult: Normality was what he never had as a poor man. Through my father, I understood that this normality doesn't exist.
Is it true that you've already earned so much money from the book that you were able to buy a new Ferrari with it?
Yes, but a used one that I got cheap.
You call yourself a "pupil and favorite" of the shit-bourgeoisie. Are you a disappointed leftist?
Not disappointed at all. Grateful. I wouldn't have absorbed so much left-wing theory otherwise.
Ulf Poschardt, a grateful leftist?
I've never distanced myself from my left-wing socialization. I demonstrated against the emergency laws in '68 while pushing my stroller, and I protested against them in my journalism during the coronavirus pandemic. I continue to read Marx, I read Gramsci. I can't imagine my political identity without left-wing theory. There is a radical, freedom-hungry left, the autonomous left. People like Ernst Toller, Erich Mühsam, Gustav Landauer. I feel indebted to them.
How come?
The fundamental idea is: No one should have power over another. That's why I find it so interesting that the current left has completely alienated itself from its own roots of freedom. I think this criticism also resonates with many old leftists. I just don't understand why we all went along with this nonsense for so long. The hypermoralization, the cancel culture.
Does the left need to find its way back to itself?
I would say: Cut the bullshit . A sensible social democracy would be important; the history of the Federal Republic without it is unimaginable. But we don't need a social democracy that offends the common sense of its own electorate, for example with the migration policy we've had in Germany over the last ten years. My mother still lives in a classic socialist neighborhood in Nuremberg. The SPD used to have over 70 percent there. Now you can see how the AfD has wormed its way into it. I'm not a streamlined non-fiction educator; my book just says: Think about it! Progress comes from criticism. That's why it's so absurd that the left has become so sensitive about this postmodern bullshit. Every criticism is a microaggression.
Poschardt on “Shitbürgertum”: “Many Eastern intellectuals and artists have contacted me”Were leftists really different in the past?
Sure, the meaner, the more malicious, the better. The influence of identity politics is fatal. Common sense has been driven out of the left. Every non-academic thinks smarter than the smart-ass, bourgeois kids with a university degree these days. I simply can't stand this milieu anymore. That's why I'm so happy at meetings with my car guys.
The mirror said you were lonely and former friends were worried about you.
I'm fine. A few people probably recognized themselves in the book.
Isn't this world of academics that you describe also a rather West German world? If I remember correctly, Katrin Göring-Eckardt is an East German. And so is Angela Merkel. Two leading representatives of the Shitbürgertum. There are some of them in the East as well, in the media, in the theaters. They exist in all major cities. They have assimilated, I believe, into a milieu that is truly influenced by West Germany.
But this is not the case everywhere in the East.
There's certainly a different kind of sensitivity to state overreach in the East, due to the experience of dictatorship. Many East German intellectuals and artists have contacted me. Recently, I had a long conversation with a very well-known, brilliant actor who read the book with curiosity and joy. Smart East Germans like him sense that someone isn't part of this Protestant-bourgeois, West German-West German elite thing. I don't want to be it, I never was, and I never will be. I deliberately presented my book in Leipzig-Plagwitz. The only Thalia branch that posts my book is Thalia in Jena.
What do you find so bad about Angela Merkel?
The fixation on the state really took off under Merkel. During the euro crisis, she said this: "The savings accounts are safe." The state could never have handled that, given the size of the deposits; it was a bluff. But suddenly, the state could and should regulate everything. The Superman state. "We can do it." We are the only ones in the world managing the nuclear phase-out, the energy transition, and we can also manage coronavirus. With a total surveillance regime. The left-wing, green academic bourgeoisie, which has made itself at home in the state apparatus, in NGOs, and in public broadcasting, declares all of this to be right and celebrates it.
Poschardt on Böhmermann: “The Nazi club is worn out”Now the CDU/CSU is in power, and the AfD is sometimes considered the strongest force. Hasn't the era you're describing already come to an end?
I look at contemporary culture the way Heiner Müller looked at the GDR in 1988. It's no longer sustainable, but since we don't live in a dictatorship, things develop more slowly. Ultimately, the zeitgeist will collapse from exhaustion. Politically, the mood is changing, but the shit citizens won't lose power as long as they maintain cultural habitats. The ten billion euros a year for public broadcasting will remain. How are we supposed to turn things around if there are no reforms? Just listen to the tone of voice of the Deutschlandfunk presenters. They speak as if they were proclaiming official opinions.
Politically, the mood is still changing.
There was a phase when everyone was on the same page. They tried to portray me as a far-right winger. Now I'm free. What's going to happen after the Hitler mustache Böhmermann gave me on his show? The Nazi stick is worn out. Luisa Neubauer can write five more books, and Hedwig Richter and Mark Schieritz and whatever their names are. Cultural hegemony is waning, yes, but I want to push it.
How is that supposed to work?
Nothing will change unless the funding tap is turned off to the NGO milieu. But at the moment, I don't see anyone other than the AfD who really wants that. And so there's no misunderstanding: I despise most of what the AfD delivers. And I certainly think the left-wing billionaires who found NGOs, subsidize Marxism, climate communism, and all their own lies are great. Gladly: Just not with taxpayers' money.
Isn't there a danger that the countermovement will be moralism from the right?
Yes, horror! I was recently asked about my criticism of the public broadcaster: "Shouldn't we all be reading Tichy's Einblick or Nius by now?" I said: "If you think Tichy, in his right-wing bitterness, is anything but the Taz, then I can't help you either." What kind of idea is that, swapping a left-wing regime for a right-wing one? It's about freedom. My position is directed against left-wing and right-wing wokeness equally, against the victim mentality and bitterness that both sides share. For me, a lack of humor is the surest sign that someone is bitter. I often see it in leftists who put on a tortured smile. That's precisely why I live loudly and hedonistically – because I notice that what torments these people most is when you stay in a good mood despite constant attacks. It literally drives them crazy.
What do you do against moralism from the left and the right?
My offer is radicalization from the center. The middle class hasn't yet understood how threatened it is by the strength of the fringes. It can only defend itself with greater resilience. A return to pragmatism, to common sense, to the social market economy. Also, a purge of all the bullshit discourse that has simply driven people crazy. I myself was a victim of a bullshit discussion shortly before Christmas when we printed an article by Elon Musk.
In it, Elon Musk called for voting for the AfD.
Elon Musk tweeted that only the AfD could save Germany. I admire Elon Musk because I think he's brilliant. I don't like electric cars, nor do I like Teslas, but I do like Elon Musk. But those tweets were utter nonsense. I wrote an editorial about them, saying that Musk was confusing the AfD with disruption. But the AfD is not disruption. Then came the offer for him to explain his position to us.
Poschardt on Elon Musk’s text: “Weak is not the word”What did you think of Musk’s text?
Weak doesn't even begin to describe it. Rather simplistic for someone with an IQ of 160. Perhaps it was even an AI text. To make it clear that it didn't reflect our opinion, the editor-in-chief published a text alongside it. And yet we had this endless discussion for three weeks. Instead of talking about the disastrous economy in Germany, we spent three weeks talking about this Elon Musk text. It even made the cover of Der Spiegel. But the photo of me in Der Spiegel was pretty good – and I was pictured taller than Musk ( laughs ). That was the highlight for me.
How do you explain the vehemence of the criticism? Moralizing everything is the easiest way to distance oneself from the bitterness of reality. Helmut Schmidt, as a Social Democrat and admirer of Karl Popper, knew that there is no escaping the relentlessness of reality. My favorite quote from Popper, which Schmidt also liked: "We can never know for sure whether our political measures are correct. Therefore, we should design them in such a way that they are correctable." Schmidt would have rejected any such moralizing. Anyone who knows Helmut Schmidt on China, anyone who knows Helmut Schmidt on migration, can see how far the SPD avoids the harshness of reality through moralizing. The Left has withdrawn from reality and concentrated exclusively on pontificating morals. Marx despised morality; that was the lowest of the low for him.
You write in your book: Many Germans are desperate to do everything right, to be on the right side, because they haven't come to terms with German guilt after 1945. Now the people who criticize Musk's text about the AfD are saying: We're worried about a new 1933. How does that fit together?
Imagining oneself as an anti-fascist is an attempt to escape the pitfalls of the past. You stick a sticker on your Tesla: I bought it before Elon went crazy. You call Donald Trump, whose daughter has a Jewish family, a new Hitler. You don't have to think about your own grandfather or the occupation of lecture halls at the university where you work, even if—as at the HU and FU—a disgusting, eliminatory anti-Semitism is espoused there. But that's nothing new on the German left after 1945; it's been consistent from the very beginning.
What do you mean by that?
The stench of the burned children from the concentration camps still hung in the air; the bodies were being transported away. And nearly everyone had become complicit. How can you go on living after that? How does that work? In psychology, there's the concept of "splitting defense." Parts of yourself or something that you can't bear are split off; as a result, a person or thing is either only good or only evil. Intellectuals falsified their Nazi biographies: Walter Jens, Günter Grass, they all concealed the fact that they had participated. For me, the zero point is the moment when Holocaust survivor Paul Celan recited his later famous poem "Death Fugue" to the writers of Group 47. His accomplices were sitting there laughing at him. They said: Why is the Jew crying like that? We're not in a synagogue here. 1952. Seven years after the Shoah. These were the great moral intellectual elites of the Federal Republic.
What happened next?
1968, Rudi Dutschke, the march through the institutions. We enshrined the rebellion. We are the better people, the decent ones, and now we are also the state. That's when it all began to become one.
You're a fan of Argentine President Milei, who wants to radically roll back the state. Isn't the man dangerous?
Milei is a brilliant economist. Period. An anarcho-capitalist who won an election in a country that, from both left and right, had an obsession with the state that destroyed it. A one-man movement. A tantric sex teacher, political economist, rock star, a man who, ever since he started thinking about the final things with Hasidic rabbis, has had a connection to Israel and Ukraine. The guy is incorruptible and an impressive charismatic. He just achieved remarkable results in the provincial elections, even though people here always speak badly about him. The poor are better off, the country is on the upswing.
Your other political idols are also controversial in Germany. Elon Musk, Giorgia Meloni... Elon Musk has invented more things in his life than almost any other German entrepreneur. I had the privilege of meeting him once or twice. It's impressive how broadly he can offer profound and intelligent answers – beyond any convention. Neurodiversity is what they call it these days. Giorgia Meloni is the daughter of a communist from a working-class neighborhood, starting on the far right with the neo-fascists and leading her party more or less into the conservative center. Fantastic.
Which German fits into this series?
We don't have such figures, partly because this kind of individualism no longer has a cultural reference point in our country.
Poschardt on Friedrich Merz: “A bit more cosmopolitan”What is your opinion of Friedrich Merz? In an editorial, I accused him of treason over the debt brake, which he complained about somewhat in Die Zeit. He said he couldn't take people who criticized him seriously, saying they were on the far right. I found that surprising.
Merz is a real hate figure in the milieu you criticize. Do you understand why?
No, not at all. He wants to run up €900 billion in debt, thereby making the state economically all-powerful. Under Merz, we'll print money endlessly. We won't lay a hand on NGOs, the state-funded, pre-political space. He was initially very accommodating to the shit citizens. But I think he played a good role in foreign policy in Paris and Kyiv. Merz isn't the most relaxed person either, but his demeanor is just a bit more cosmopolitan than Olaf Scholz's. His speech to the Economic Council was very good. That's why I voted for him. We'll see.
Why don't you argue about X anymore?
Everyone knows I'm a friend of Ukraine. But when I defended a piece by Welt authors who were critical of President Zelensky in the Oval Office, a bubble bombarded me with such attacks that I was fed up. It was the best decision in a long time. Now I'm only promoting my book on X.
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