BERLIN (RNS) — In February, Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland made sweeping gains in a federal election, especially in the country’s east, formerly the German Democratic Republic under Soviet rule. Founded just 13 years ago, the party now holds more than 20% of the seats in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, making it the second largest political party in power.
As the AfD has risen in prominence, it has formed a growing bond of mutual support with President Donald Trump’s administration. AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla attended Trump’s second inauguration in January. In the lead-up to Germany’s February election, Elon Musk — then serving in the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency — publicly endorsed the AfD. Vice President JD Vance also expressed support, meeting with Chrupalla’s co-chair, Alice Weidel, just nine days before the vote.
MAGA’s embrace of the AfD is partly inspired by their ostracism in their respective political spheres: The Trump camp has long been regarded by other parties as a norm-breaking threat to democracy that must be resisted. For much of the AfD’s history, an unwritten rule in German politics dictated that the country’s established parties would not cooperate with the AfD, whose positions were called too extreme. (In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio objected to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency categorizing the AfD as an ex …