Welp.

Everyone's best guess was correct. Scholz lost the no-confidence vote today...

Good Morning from Germany, where the parliament cleared the way for an early election on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than scheduled: In the vote on the vote of confidence, 207 MPs voted for Scholz, 394 against him, and 116 abstained. As intended, the Chancellor fell well short… pic.twitter.com/Z8PhyxRsv6

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) December 16, 2024

...As intended, the Chancellor fell well short of the required majority of at least 367 votes.

...and is out as chancellor of Germany.

JUST IN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has visited President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to ask him to dissolve parliament and call for early elections. pic.twitter.com/YEJUSgAZe2

— DW Politics (@dw_politics) December 16, 2024

It has been all about money and what Scholz's coalition has done to the German economy in the years they've been in power.

He met with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier to formally ask for the Bundestag to be dissolved and for new elections to be called. Scholz and Steinmeier are said to be on the same page as far as dates go.

...Steinmeier's approval is considered certain and he has already indicated that he agrees with the proposed election date of February 23.

However, it is expected that he will wait until after the Christmas holidays to make the decision, particularly as he first wants to hold talks with all parliamentary groups in the Bundestag.

Over the weekend, Steinmeier said he would not be hurried into making a decision.

"The hectic pace of daily politics and the beat of the media do not now dictate the procedure, but the constitution and its rules do," the German president told ARD.

As far as the campaign to get populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) banned in time for the general election, that plan's not going too well at all. Only 113 of the 734 parliament members have signed on so far, and to do so, they'll need upwards of 60% going along with them. Perhaps they've seen the fiscal writing on the wall.

Germany will not support Kyiv at the expense of its own security. Therefore, it will not supply Taurus missiles or send its troops to Ukraine, says Scholz.

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 16, 2024

Or maybe they've seen the latest polls and know political suicide when it's laid out in front of them. It turns out the AfD has some considerable wind at its back, but they aren't turbines.

According to a new poll from INSA, a German political and market research institute, Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz are in equal first in the race for a new German chancellor.

In the December 13 poll, both designated candidates for their parties came in at 17 per cent among those asked who should be the next leader of Germany.

Current Chancellor, Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), garnered 14 per cent while the Greens Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck came in on 12 per cent.

Scholz will be heading up a caretaker government until the new elections are held as electioneering revs up. Mainstream party leaders Scholz and conservative Merz took potshots at each other, while studiously ignoring the populist elephant in the room.

...The debate preceding the vote also opened serious campaigning for the election, with party leaders trading ill-tempered barbs.

The chancellor and his conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who surveys suggest is likely to replace him, charged each other with incompetence and lack of vision.

Scholz, who will head a caretaker government until a new one can be formed, defended his record as a crisis leader who had dealt with the economic and security emergency triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

...The conservatives have a comfortable, albeit narrowing lead of more than 10 points over the SPD in most polls. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is slightly ahead of Scholz's party, while the Greens are in fourth place.

The mainstream parties have refused to govern with the AfD, but its presence complicates the parliamentary arithmetic, making unwieldy coalitions more likely.

They may have to learn to play with them whether they want to or not.

I'm thinking Germans believe something had better change sooner than later, and they are making their preferences pretty clear.

Germany is reaching a point of no return. Business leaders know it, the people feel it, but politicians haven’t come up with answers.

One answer at least is simple: stop the failed Energiewende & bring back up to 20GW of nuclear power to reduce prices asap. Abandon wind & solar… pic.twitter.com/jcDaZ9JEw4

— Alexander Stahel 🌻 (@BurggrabenH) December 16, 2024

...One answer at least is simple: stop the failed Energiewende & bring back up to 20GW of nuclear power to reduce prices asap. Abandon wind & solar subsidies.

But we knew this vote was coming in Germany and had a pretty good inkling which way it was going to go.

What we did not see coming was parliamentary chaos erupting at the exact same time, just over the Canadian border.

It seems Fidelito is in the political fight of his life.

Earlier today.

Big Elensky curse day.
🇩🇪 Pirate Scholz loses confidence vote.
🇨🇦 Freeland resigns. Trudeau is next. pic.twitter.com/OTKm3mXQX1

— Alex Christoforou (@AXChristoforou) December 16, 2024

John had a really good post on what happened:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is still hanging on in Canada but there are fresh signs that he and his party are in trouble. Today, his Finance Minister unexpectedly resigned just hours before she was supposed to roll out a new budget plan.

In a shocking move, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Monday she's resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet, just hours before she was set to deliver the government's fall economic statement.

It's a disastrous development that throws the government's economic agenda into a tailspin and leaves a huge gap on Trudeau's front bench at a time when Liberal Party support has collapsed in the polls...

Freeland quit just as she was scheduled to present the next year's budget to a session of their parliament. As in two hours before she was supposed to walk in with it. 

Worse for Trudeau than that abrupt exit was the fact that the person he tapped to take Minister Freeland's place took a hike as well.

You all might remember Minister Freeland as the vicious, Soros-associated harpie who got such a kick out of freezing the Canadian protest truckers' bank accounts.

She was quite a peach.

IT'S DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER TIME!

Listen to opposition leader Pierre Poilievre explain what happened - it's hilarious.

It’s actually insane…

Freeland resigns two hours before the full budget was to be presented.

Then the replacement resigns/refuses to take the helm.

The Trudeau regime is going down, and it looks like it might be going down today. pic.twitter.com/8uR4Zs4RVZ

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) December 16, 2024

Now that it appears Trudeau has "lost control" of his cabinet, liberal MPs are coming out of the woodwork demanding the Prime Minister call for new elections immediately and resign.

Pierre Poilievre wasted no time going for the jugular, asserting "everything was out of control," and demanding Fidelito step aside.

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre demanded on Monday that the government call an immediate election as the Liberals were thrown into chaos by high-profile resignations, saying there is no time to waste with Donald Trump’s inauguration as president just over a month away.

Poilievre said it’s clear “everything is out of control” after finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland announced her shocking resignation from cabinet Monday morning, just hours before she was to deliver her fall fiscal update, which she had reportedly clashed with the Prime Minister’s Office over.

“It would be ideal to have the election done before the president takes office (on Jan. 20) or within the first week or two of his mandate,” Poilievre told reporters at a press conference on Parliament Hill. “So that Canadians would have a strong prime minister, with brains and backbone… facing down President Trump and our American competitors.”

Poilievre added that he wasn’t worried about springing a holiday election campaign on Canadians.

“I think right now, Canadians’ Christmas holidays are being interrupted by the NDP-Liberal hell they’re living under,” said Poilievre.

The Canadian government is in shambles.

The Liberal Party is going down in flames.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned.

Justin Trudeau is on the verge of resigning.

Glorious. 🇨🇦🔥 pic.twitter.com/7ysKsquiRr

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 16, 2024

Aw. You hate to see it...nah.

Leave already.

...“Justin Trudeau has lost control, but he’s hanging onto power,” Poilievre said. “All this chaos, all this division, all this weakness is happening as our largest neighbor and closest ally is imposing 25% tariffs under a recently elected Trump with a strong mandate, a man who knows how to identify weakness.”

No Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight terms.

The federal election has to be held before October. The Liberals must rely on the support of at least one other major party in Parliament, because they don’t hold an outright majority themselves. If the opposition New Democratic Party, or NDP, pulls support, an election can be held at any time.

“I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go,” NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said.

Trudeau’s Liberal party needs the support of the NDP party to stay in power. Singh didn’t say if he would note no confidence in the government but said all options are on the table.

“Mr. Trudeau’s government is over,” Opposition Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet said. “He must acknowledge that and act accordingly. The departure of his most important ally, his finance minister, is the end of this government.”

He's such an obnoxious, virtue-signaling lightweight.

LESS THAN a week ago, Justin Trudeau scolded Americans because we "voted for a second time to not elect [America's] first woman president."

TODAY: Trudeau's female Finance Minister resigned because Justin tried to fire her for disagreeing with him.

Classic Woke narcissism. pic.twitter.com/ev074uvo2P

— Yitz Friedman (@friedman_yitz) December 16, 2024

Couldn't happen to a nicer fascist if it does.