Dem
51
GOP
49
As long as we are on the topic of people who have fomented insurrection, Germany has more experience with that problem than the United States does. Well, more experience in recent decades, at least. So, the Germans' eyes and ears are always open as they keep track of what far-right-wingers might be up to. And the German government is not shy about taking action when it is warranted, given how very badly the last successful far-right-wing coup worked out for everyone.
That brings us to a 71-year-old fellow named Heinrich Reuss. Reuss is a member of the House of Reuss, an 850-year-old noble family that ruled over a portion of the modern-day Germany state of Thuringia until the early 20th century. Heinrich views himself as the rightful king of Germany and, to that end, has styled himself Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuss. This despite the fact that: (1) the real Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuss, died over 200 years ago; (2) Germany abolished its monarchy after World War I and (3) even if the House of Reuss was entitled to the no-longer-extant German throne, the current head of the House is Heinrich XIV, a distant relative of Mr. Reuss.
Despite these rather sizable obstacles, "Heinrich XIII," who apparently never learned that 13 is an unlucky number, built a somewhat sizable terrorist organization with an eye toward overthrowing the German government, executing the members of the Bundestag, and putting himself in charge. He and his followers were convinced that this was both possible and justified thanks to vast amounts of right-wing conspiratorial thinking.
So much for that, however, as the coup was ended before it could ever start. Yesterday, the German government arrested Heinrich XIII, who it appears will soon be known as Heinrich 20 to life. He wasn't the only one to be pinched, either—a couple dozen of his closest co-conspirators were arrested, as well.
Heinrich and his followers were apparently persuaded that Germany has fallen under the control of a "deep state" (tiefer Zustand) that covers up its nefarious activities with lots of fake news (gefälschte Nachrichten). The group started as an anti-Islamic movement and developed from there, ultimately attracting a number of current and former cops and members of the military. It's more evidence that what's going on right now is bigger than any one country, and that people like Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and [fill in the name of this week's British Prime Minister] are just avatars for a much deeper reaction to globalization and other 21st century developments. (Z)