> "Many saw a concerted campaign to discredit [Annalena Baerbock, ] a highly accomplished woman" The problem, in my opinion, is with the new type of the "young

> "Many saw a concerted campaign to discredit [Annalena Baerbock, ] a highly accomplished woman" The problem, in my opinion, is with the new type of the "young politician": This is someone who is the absolute opposite of "accomplished". For a person who is actually "accomplished", journalists would have more important things to say than that they may or may not have plagiarised in the past. Take for example Sebastian Kurz, the chancellor of Austria (where Weber hails from and has broken many a "scandal"): Kurz joined his party when he was 17, from which point the party "groomed" him for a career in politics. He worked for the party, having no notable employment or self-employment outside of working for the party. Part of his grooming was that, when he was 25, they invented a new public office for him. One where he would frequently get positive media attention and where there would be little opportunity for him to do anything wrong or get any negative attention. At that point he hadn't even completed any university-level education. When he was 31 they made him their new party leader and candidate for the highest office in the country, and he won the election to become the youngest European head of state. It's the same thing with Baerbock. Her resume is essentially nothing but jobs inside her party. Such people are "politically invincible". A political opponent simply has nothing that they can be opposed to: They have done nothing, they stand for nothing, they are nothing. But also: They've done nothing wrong [yet]. This is where the plagiarism stuff comes in: Even somebody who has done nothing of note in their life will probably have done a little bit of writing here or there. Maybe a thesis at university. Maybe a non-fiction book outlining their view on politics. But: Thanks to the "plagiarism hunter" and his exceptionally wide definition of what constitutes plagiarism, that's actually enough to generate a bit of scandal. So: What have we learned? We need to add "writing" to the list of things a person must not have done in order to qualify for a career in the politics of the "young politician".