Angela Merkel has given the job of health minister to her biggest critic, Jens Spahn, and according to a report by Reuters, Spahn does not intend to stop being the “anti-Merkel”; he will work toward a “rightward shift in the party once he becomes health minister.”
Amid growing protests against migration in Germany, Spahn is notorious for being vociferously against Merkel’s open door migration policy, stating:
Some men “in an Islamic society have to grow a beard….but homosexuals like me are thrown from a tower.”
The LGBTQ community has not collectively protested against the human rights abuses being committed against their own communities, nor against routine hate preaching by Islamic clerics against them. But Spahn is different.
Among Spahn’s other views:
He supports a burqa ban, and has “called for an ‘Islam law’ to regulate Muslim religious institutions in Germany and make their messages more transparent.”
Some German media pundits have speculated that Angela Merkel’s decision to place Spahn as health minister was made in the hope of silencing him or appeasing her detractors from within the CDU.
Her reason(s) may backfire to the benefit of Germany, since Spahn “has never concealed his ambition to become chancellor one day. Achieving a ministerial post at the age of 37 could put him firmly on the path to power.”
“’Anti-Merkel’ propelled to frontline of German politics”, by Guy Chazan, Financial Times, February 26, 2018:
Jens Spahn sealed his reputation as Germany’s “Anti-Merkel” with an act of almost breathtaking insubordination.
Mr Spahn was the ambitious young rebel who orchestrated a vote at the CDU party conference in 2016 to limit strictly dual citizenship in Germany — in defiance of the wishes of Angela Merkel, chancellor and CDU leader. A shaken Ms Merkel later insisted there would be no change to policy, despite the vote.
But the incident shone a spotlight on the growing influence of a coterie of bright young conservatives who were increasingly unhappy with Ms Merkel’s leadership, and the ambitious MP who was their figurehead.
Some thought the rebellion would stop Mr Spahn’s career in its tracks. But on Sunday Ms Merkel gave him the job of health minister in her new government, bringing one of her most vocal critics into the front ranks of the German cabinet.
For the openly gay Mr Spahn, who married his partner, the journalist Daniel Funke, shortly before Christmas, this could be just the start. He has never concealed his ambition to become chancellor one day. Achieving a ministerial post at the age of 37 could put him firmly on the path to power.
“I think he’ll be in pole position when the post-Merkel era begins,” says Olav Gutting, a CDU MP.
Mr Spahn grew up in the village of Ottenstein, near the Dutch border, and trained as a banker, later working in a mortgage bank in the nearby city of Münster. He joined the Christian Democrats as a teenager and quickly got involved in local politics, serving as a town councillor in Ahaus for 10 years.
In 2002 he was elected to the Bundestag, where he became his party’s expert on health policy. Ten years later he forced his way into the CDU presidium, the party executive, over the objections of his regional party association, which backed another candidate. In 2015 he was appointed deputy finance minister.
It was around this time that Mr Spahn first came to national prominence. Ms Merkel had made the controversial decision to keep Germany’s borders open and let in hundreds of thousands of refugees. Days later, Mr Spahn said public support for the move was ebbing “by the hour”. Within weeks he had emerged as the most strident internal opponent of the chancellor’s “refugees welcome” policy.
“Even leftwing volunteer refugee helpers want to see immigration brought under control, and don’t want the aid we offer refugees to be abused,” he told reporters in November.
His scepticism about the migrant influx quickly evolved into an all-out attack on Islam, an attack he frequently linked to his sexuality. The arrival of so many Muslims meant that “German society risks becoming more anti-Semitic, homophobic, more macho and violent than it’s been up till now,” he said last year.
Some men “in an Islamic society have to grow a beard,” he told Die Welt last year. “But homosexuals like me are thrown from a tower.”….
mortimer says
Another superb article by Christine Douglass-Williams, one of the best journalists writing today. This informative expose on Jens Spahn is indeed very ENCOURAGING.
At last, some gays are stating the OBVIOUS, namely, that ISLAM HATES GAYS and WANTS THEM ALL DEAD.
Can we get more realistic than this? It’s time for Gays to stop fantasizing about Islam and stop thinking like uninformed CHILDREN.
andra says
Forget about Jens Spahn. He was only critizising Merkel once and again because he had to worry about his reelection. He is just another politician who says b when he means b.
RichardL says
I agree with you. The guy he replaced was the only CDU MP who voted against marriage for all. He was also very Christian and he was the guy who handed Merkel a German flag after election night. Merkel made a disgusted face at him and threw the flag away. All on live TV. Spahn is lick-spittle.
andra says
Sorry for the misspelling. He says a when he means b.
gravenimage says
Sorry to hear this, Andra.
Benedict says
“an attack he frequently linked to his sexuality” –
To use homosexuality as a weapon against Islam is like using a condom when having intercourse in the hope that it will increase the chances of having a child.
If Muslims had a sense of humor and irony they would be on the barricades for LGBT rights and march with a smugly smile with Isis flags in the ubiquitous Gay Pride Parades in the West.
gravenimage says
Benedict, you *do* know that Muslims throw gay people off rooftops?
There are some gay people who are staunch Anti-Jihadists–Bruce Bawer, Milo Yiannopoulos, and the animator Sye Ten come to mind. I also had a good friend–since passed away–who was gay and an Anti-Jihadist.
Here is Robert Spencer on Milo’s show:
“Video: Robert Spencer on The Milo Show on Malala and the PC FBI”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/02/video-robert-spencer-on-the-milo-show-on-malala-and-the-pc-fbi
MFritz says
Hahahahahahaha! Spahn has been a PUSH-OVER from DAY ONE! Come ON people! He’s a typical CDU-career-type-clone. They don’t think without party consent, they don’t go to the toilet without party consent.
And Nahles is the VERY same from the SPD-side of things.
These two are the designated “heir apparents” of their corrupt-to-the-core parties. FUCK them! (Sorry.)
Heidi says
Not to forget that Spahn as a Lobbyist for the pharma industries.
T-Online reported: “Discrete company construct
Five years ago, the news magazine Focus unveiled a discrete corporate construct: in 2006, Spahn, according to the report, formed a civil society association with friendly lobbyists – their company was the agency “Politas”, which advised clients in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. And according to “Focus” with good contacts to the Bundestag” promoted: “Whether it is a hearing, a background conversation or a plenary debate, we are there for you.” It remained for a long time hidden to the public until the “Focus” report, since members of the Bundestag have to indicate company holdings only for “more than 25 percent of the voting rights”. Spahn held up to May 2010 exactly 25 percent – and was, according to “Focus” also involved in a profit distribution in 2007. The aspiring young conservative also was a chairman for the CDU on the health committee since 2005.
Spahn: no conflicts of interest
When the events came to light, Spahn said the “Focus”: “There has never been a conflict of interest.” Lobbying and political work were clearly separated. He was also not involved in the daily business of the agency, he later stated. After his election as spokesman for health policy in 2010 he ended the participation.
Even then, however, both “Focus” and non-governmental organizations doubted the validity of these arguments. For example, Lobbycontrol pointed out that, according to media reports, his co-partner was working for a mail-order pharmacy and a pharmaceutical wholesaler – while Spahn was debating the liberalization of the pharmacy market in the Bundestag. But it seens to be normal in Germany. Simone Peter, member of the Greens, who fought for “clean energy” went to the same corporations as a lobbyist she fought while in Office.
Benedict says
The logical complement to a female head of state is a subordinate homosexual male. So Germany has a barren woman as Chancellor and a barren homosexual health minister; it’s an extremely unhealthy combination total unsuitable to handle the testosterone and quranic infused Muslim resentment that is consuming Europe. And if the subordination turns into a bitchy fight – not unthinkable – it will be even worse for Germany.
gravenimage says
I’ve never understood why so many consider Islam to be ‘manly’. Muslims are cowards who abuse the most vulnerable, including children. They also use women and children as human shields. There is just nothing manly about this at all.
David says
Give him credit. We need all the help we can get. This includes help from LBGT voters and women who are victims of Muslim violence. Either we stand together or we fall.
DFD says
“….Spahn does not intend to stop being the “anti-Merkel”; he will work toward a “rightward shift in the party once he becomes health minister.”…
Hard to believe, you can trust Spahn as far as you can throw him. Anti-Islam? Errrr… I believe only, and ONLY, where his sexual orientation is concerned. I think he is about as anti-Islam as Theresa May is anti-Sharia!
“…appeasing her detractors…” That indeed is the true reason for his appointment. Merkel (Merkill ??) is as power hungry as it gets. And like Soros and other such characters she plays both sides of the street. What I am saying is that neither of those – beings likes the middle or even conservative grounds. But if people are beginning to be concerned about the left (actually it’s what is known as the ‘Black Block’), then the likes of Soros, Merkel and similar will bring in some so-called right wingers. Better to have controllable, but difficult children than out of control hooligans.
BTW, if you want to know a bit about her motivation, apart being a power hungry opportunist/socialist, her is her (apparently only) reading, for you to download if you so wish, that’s the English one: http://eng.postcrisisworld.org/files/vision_2050.pdf
She has the German version. She reads from it frequently, just as Maggie T. was an ardent reader of Kennedy’s “Rise & Fall of Great Powers”. Though, it’s a bit shorter at about 120 pages, the German one is ~90 pages.
–
PS: I wonder when he will have his first ‘audience’ with Soros, or when he will be summoned into the office of Soros’ Open Society Foundation. They have a large office in Berlin. Merkel’s been there, of course. She received last year one of Soros’ sons like royalty, they spoke for hours – privately…
Tom W Harris says
C’mon y’all, get Funke!
Or not.
LR says
We shall see….
It’s not like homosexuals like Spahn want to give in to people who would like to throw them off of rooftops.
Europeans need to find their grit and teeth, and maul the bastards that want Sharia law.
Spahn might be a start.
gravenimage says
Germany: The “Anti-Merkel,” vociferous critic of her Muslim migration policies, joins Merkel’s cabinet
………………
Will he still stand against the threat of Islam from a position of power–or has he sold out?