Satirical Floats at German Carnival Target Global Leaders and Social Issues

Düsseldorf's Rosenmontag parade features sharp political satire, with floats critiquing Trump, Putin, Weidel, and Musk, drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees.

The Rosenmontag parades in Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Mainz attracted over a million attendees, with Düsseldorf alone hosting around 700,000 participants.
Donald Trump was a central figure of satire, depicted on multiple floats as a threat to democracy, including one showing him and Putin crushing Ukraine in a 'Hitler-Stalin Pact 2.0.'
Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD, was portrayed as a witch luring young voters with social media and Nazi symbolism, sparking significant backlash and threats against the float's creator.
Other floats critiqued global figures like Elon Musk, shown as an unhinged right-wing troll, and Olaf Scholz, depicted steering Germany's government into collapse.
The carnival's floats also addressed broader themes, including authoritarianism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the challenges facing Germany's newly elected leadership.

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung