Everything to the test.

Never leave a stone unturned.

The phrase thrashing grew disproportionately after lost elections.

The worse the result, the easier the solution, or at least that's how it appears.

The CDU in Frankfurt crashed in the federal election.

As in many places in Hessen.

The simplest of all apparent solutions to get out of the deep: swap personnel.

But anyone who thinks that the problems will vanish into thin air is mistaken.

Because they are structural - and can be fixed in Frankfurt on an evening in January.

At that time, the CDU held a member survey about the next party chairman.

Almost 60 percent opted for Friedrich Merz, while Armin Laschet only came third with around 15 percent behind Norbert Röttgen.

At this point, Volker Bouffier had already thrown himself into the breach for the later candidate for chancellor, as did others such as the Bundestag member Bettina Wiesmann.

Some thought it was tactless and patronizing.

Merkel critics and Merz disciples

Since then, two narratives have been in circulation in the CDU. The first tells of the established people who simply ignored the will of the base and pushed their husband Laschet through. Everyone knows that there has always been something like this, but now it was in black and white, the result of the vote was there. The second story is about the fact that the vocalists, the Merkel opponents and Merz disciples, had hijacked the event. The result should not be overestimated, the basis is actually more complex, they say.

The finding is not suitable for bold phrases, but if the CDU wants to be able to campaign again quickly, both narratives must be integrated.

Because there is some truth in both of them: It was obviously unwise to simply wipe away the concerns of part of the base against Laschet.

If you add to the quarrels in the later search for chancellor candidates, the Union demobilized some of its members in this important election year - this was noted during the election campaign.

Nevertheless, the self-proclaimed base of Merkel critics and Merz and Söder disciples must also ask themselves whether they are also speaking out about an imbalance.

The analysis of the voter migration shows that many have made their cross this time with the SPD and the Greens.

The question is: How do you get the different currents under one roof?