Overview

• He has relinquished his Bundestag seat and declared his withdrawal from politics this week.
• In a taz interview he attacked CDU/CSU figures, accusing Julia Klöckner of dividing society and mocking Markus Söder’s “fetischhaftes Wurstgefresse.”
• On ZDF’s Markus Lanz he said the move is not tactical, argued current political structures cannot solve major problems, and condemned what he called senseless culture wars.
• Commentaries in FAZ and DerWesten criticized his timing and tone as self-serving or gratuitous, while supporters applauded the bluntness on social media.
• He also said he would prefer to serve himself rather than send his sons in a war scenario and outlined plans to research and teach abroad, including at DIIS in Copenhagen and at Berkeley.