With preparations now underway to build his administration, Siegmund insists he is “committed to rule of law” and will make his choices based on merit alone — but that’s not how MAGA does it. It is not how he will do it either.
A former salesman, the 35 year-old Siegmund was initially a member of the CDU before shifting to the AfD a decade ago. He is now one of the party’s rising stars: His TikTok account is among the most popular social media accounts in the country, winning over many of the younger residents in Saxony-Anhalt, which has a high unemployment rate. Slick and good at posing for the cameras, Siegmund has also promised elderly voters he will bring their “good, old, secure Germany back.”
And when the party’s regional chapter launched a 150-page program in April, it was not lacking in ambition. In it, Siegmund is promising to either deport refugees or move them into “group homes” — even though Saxony-Anhalt is one of the most ethnically homogeneous parts of the country with only 1 in 13 citizens of migration background.
The party is also vowing to defund public broadcasters deemed hostile and unpatriotic, ban all symbols of “woke” culture, including gay pride flags in schools, and is calling for the promotion of “patriotic” culture. In a frightening echo of the 1930s, it has also slammed the Bauhaus art movement, which has strong roots in Saxony-Anhalt.
Then comes the natalism: Blaming so-called “sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles” for the country’s low birth rate, the party is promising generous tax breaks and free childcare to families consisting of “a father, a mother and as many children as possible” as part of its fight against “the extinction of the German people.”
Although foreign policy is the responsibility of the federal government, Siegmund is also calling for an end to sanctions against Russia. He wants to bring back Russian language classes in schools and for Russian students to return as part of exchange programs. As for Ukrainians, he wants them designated as illegal migrants rather than war refugees.
