The grin was telling: AfD federal spokesman Tino Chrupalla is obviously at least a little happy that Trump’s imperialist ambitions in Venezuela and Greenland are tearing NATO apart and further dismantling the old world order. On Tuesday, at parliamentary group level in the Bundestag, he said with a slightly malicious smile: “This is a threat to a NATO state within NATO. If the British are now also talking about the fact that we have to send troops to Greenland, does the alliance obligation then apply?”
But after that – and this is remarkable after that Trump hype in the extreme right-wing party and numerous trips to parliament about the MAGA movement – he also expresses gentle criticism of the USA: “It is clear that Wild West methods are to be rejected,” not all means are justified, said Chrupalla.
Party leader Alice Weidel was even a little clearer: “Trump has violated an elementary election promise – and that is not to interfere in other states. And he has to explain that to his own voters.” She also pointed out that Trump is not doing well before the midterm elections.
At the same time, Chrupalla also showed understanding: It was clear that international law had to be renegotiated again and again. You have to take spheres of influence and interests into account, says Chrupalla, who has just returned from another authoritarian pole of power that the extreme right-wing party is remarkably good at: China. Unipolarity is changing to multipolarity and Germany is on the sidelines, says Chrupalla.
AfD is looking forward to a multipolar world order
In its election manifesto, the AfD committed itself to international law and wrote that “no country may interfere in the internal affairs of another.” But this has obviously had a more formal character for a long time. This has been evident for years, not least in the open attitude towards Russia.
Chrupalla counts Ukraine as part of his legitimate sphere of influence, which Putin has been attacking with a war of aggression and war crimes for almost four years. The AfD’s position here was pointed: Ukraine should be sacrificed for cheap Russian gas – especially since Putin (as well as Trump) already shares the rejection of Western liberalism.
This is one of the reasons why AfD foreign policymakers and thought leaders have been propagating a multipolar world order for years in the spirit of the Nazi constitutional lawyer Carl Schmitt, who is still a pillar saint of the New Right today. The premise is that every major power should be able to do whatever it wants within its sphere of influence. Basically it’s great power politics from the 19th century, but with fascist nuclear powers – what could go wrong?
The consequence of this logic: Putin can grab Ukraine and China can annex the much-desired Taiwan. And the USA then also has a right to Venezuela and Greenland. And while you’re at it: the ethnic-nationalist Thuringian AfD state leader Höcke would certainly have gladly back to East Prussia.
This is also how jubilant posts can be explained, like the one from Maximilian Krah on Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, a member of the state parliament from Saxony-Anhalt, even said that neither the US intervention in Venezuela nor Russia’s war should be condemned.
Between jubilation and “borderline vassalism”
In contrast, there are long-established anti-American reflexes on the extreme right. CompactIn view of such reactions, editor Jürgen Elsässer complained about “borderline-moronic vassalism towards US imperialism” from the right. Björn Höcke usually takes a similar line: he regularly classifies the USA as a “foreign hegemon”, while he sees Russia as a “natural ally”.
While Höcke himself remained silent, his close confidants took a position on the issue. Example: Torben Braga, Höcke’s right-hand man in the Bundestag, leaned in one Citizens’ inquiry on MPs Watch “decisively” rejects the US military action: „The sovereignty of states is indivisible and non-negotiable.”
In the cacophony, the party leadership initially remained remarkably silent. In the ten days after the attack, Weidel and Chrupalla commented on all kinds of little things, but not on the omnipresent geopolitical situation. What came as a bit of a surprise was the party leaders’ criticism of the military strikes and threatening gestures by the USA. It’s interesting that the Höcke line is now prevailing among them, even though he is also remarkably quiet on the subject publicly.
The AfD faction complains about weak leadership
According to taz information, Trump’s sudden and uncoordinated departure was not well received by everyone within the group – they were apparently surprised there too. Behind closed doors, it is said in frustration that the party leaders don’t even really understand how NATO works. People complain about a lack of line and leadership.
Venezuela wasn’t even discussed at Tuesday’s group meeting. Actually, the situation in the “Outside Working Group” was that they didn’t want to criticize Trump too strongly – the party leaders just accepted that without consultation.
As a reminder: a few weeks ago, amid the Trump hype, the AfD was ingratiating itself with the authoritarian MAGA administration with real USA tourism. The extreme right-wing party, in turn, criticized the extreme right-wing party in the election campaign, including with its new security strategy, which is directed against the EU and, in AfD speech, incites against Western liberalism.
The AfD’s dilemma: Trump pursues tough interest politics with a tariff doctrine that harms the German economy. Who wants to take away the “Germany first” claim from the AfD when its politicians are useful idiots cozying up to authoritarian oligarchs all over the world?
East AfD rails against “western extremists”
Behind the scenes, the party continues to argue about its foreign policy. The conflicts are far from resolved here. There’s Rüdiger Lucassen, for example. The AfD MP from North Rhine-Westphalia is threatened with regulatory measures because he dared To criticize Höcke’s rejection of conscription in a speech.
It should now give Lucassen even greater satisfaction that he, of all people, is invited to the Munich Security Conference taking place in February – the former Bundeswehr colonel is considered a transatlanticist or “western extremist”, especially within the Eastern AfD. Chrupalla and Weidel have not yet received an invitation.
Before Lucassen can travel to Munich, he first has to report to the parliamentary group board in the coming week of the meeting after the Höcke criticism.