AfD’s advance in northeastern Germany is a significant regional result. It is not a national election victory, the appointment of Alice Weidel as chancellor, or proof that a new nationwide deportation programme has begun.
Bottom line: real electoral gain; national-policy claims overstate what the vote establishes. Benny Johnson’s Facebook post and linked video mix a state-election result with campaign promises and predictions about Germany’s federal government. Those are different kinds of claims.
What happened in the state election?
The September 20 election discussed in the post was in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, not a new election for Germany’s federal parliament. DPA reporting carried by Wirtschaftswoche gives the preliminary result as 38.2% for AfD, followed by the Social Democrats (SPD) on 35.5%. It reports the Christian Democrats (CDU) at 4.9%, below the 5% threshold. These are reported preliminary figures, not certified final totals.
That supports a substantial AfD gain and a serious CDU setback. But finishing first is not the same as forming a government. N-tv/AFP’s September 22 follow-up says the SPD planned exploratory talks with the Left and Greens, which together held a majority of seats. It reports that the SPD ruled out talks with AfD and that AfD had announced it would go into opposition. Exploratory talks are not yet a completed coalition agreement.
Berlin is a separate result
Voters also went to the polls in Berlin. Euronews reported the Left as the leading party there, with AfD behind it and the CDU. The outgoing CDU-SPD coalition had lost its majority, according to that report. A coalition losing its majority is not the same thing as the whole country changing governments, and a first-place party still has to establish a workable governing arrangement.
Who actually resigned?
The Facebook graphic’s broad claim that “socialists” are resigning does not name an officeholder. The concrete departures in the September 22 AFP follow-up are from the CDU’s state leadership: Daniel Peters resigned as state party chair, and state general secretary Katy Hoffmeister also stepped down. Philipp Amthor was to take over the chairmanship on an interim basis. Those are Christian Democratic party offices—not proof that a national “socialist” government has resigned.
Merz’s future: prediction is not resignation
At roughly 4:53 in Johnson’s video, he discusses an AfD prediction that Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be out by year-end. That is a political forecast. It is not a resignation notice, a parliamentary vote replacing him or evidence that AfD now runs Germany.
The Federal Chancellery’s constitutional explainer states that the chancellor is elected by the Bundestag. A constructive vote of no confidence requires the Bundestag to elect a successor. The Federal Returning Officer separately explains the constitutional routes to early federal elections. A state election does not itself trigger either process.
The “100-day plan” is a pledge—not an enacted order
Near 8:59, Johnson presents border closures, benefit restrictions and large-scale deportations as Weidel’s proposed first-100-days agenda. The broad policy position is not new: BBC reporting from January 2025 documented her calls for border closures and large-scale repatriations at the AfD conference in Riesa, before that year’s federal election.
That earlier record establishes campaign advocacy. It does not show that the September 2026 state result installed Weidel as chancellor or implemented the programme. The video’s exact paraphrase about eliminating all migrant benefits was not verified here against an original speech or enacted measure. Migrants, asylum applicants, lawful residents and people subject to enforceable return decisions are not interchangeable legal categories.
The EU material is another, separate policy story
The video opens with European Parliament footage and claims about tougher returns rules. There is a real legislative record: the Parliament’s press release records approval of returns legislation, including the possibility of third-country return hubs by agreement. It also specifies human-rights safeguards, non-refoulement and the prohibition of collective expulsions.
That record is not a blanket authorization to deport people because of ethnicity or religion. The release describes further Council adoption and publication steps before entry into force; this report has not independently established subsequent implementation or verified the provenance of the chant in Johnson’s opening montage. Neither is evidence of a new AfD national government.
Read the political signal without accepting the overclaim
AfD’s regional gains, pressure on the CDU and public arguments about immigration are legitimate news. Readers can assess those developments without treating a partisan victory graphic as a government-formation document.
This source-check does not adopt the video’s derogatory generalizations about immigrants, Africans or Muslims. The dramatic Facebook image is not used here as an election photograph. Our focus is the verifiable election result, the level of government involved and the difference between a proposal, a forecast and an enacted decision.
Checked September 22, 2026. This is a focused examination of the election and power-transfer claims, not a comprehensive fact-check of every historical, economic or cultural statement in the video. Full source captures and automatic captions are retained privately. The source video is linked for context, not endorsed.