Germany is rearming, and last month the German government announced plans to become the strongest conventional army in Europe by 2039. This is a goal that the Trump administration broadly supports, because they want our European NATO allies to become less dependent upon the U.S. for security.
Simultaneously, the Trump administration has become a surprisingly outspoken defender of the German far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland, known by its initials AfD. In February 2025, JD Vance met with Alice Weidel, the AfD co-leader and the party’s candidate for chancellor. In September 2025, Weidel came to Washington and met with officials from the U.S. National Security Council, the State Department, and Vance’s office. In February, an AfD member of the German Bundestag met with Pentagon officials.
The AfD is not so enthusiastic about NATO membership and has argued that NATO isn’t considering Russia’s interests. Weidel spent six years living in the People’s Republic of China and worked for the state-owned Bank of China. The AfD remain vehement opponents of the U.S. military campaign against Iran.
Now, it’s entirely fine to want a stronger Germany that can play a greater role in the defense of Europe from outside threats. But it’s a little odd to want a stronger Germany AND to be supporting a far-right party that doesn’t like the country’s current alliance with America, and whose leaders always seem to have a good word to say about Russia, China, and Iran.
Wait, it gets worse.
Back in June 2023, Weidel boasted that her party was the most popular party in “central Germany . . .” referring to the territory that we in the U.S. used to call “East Germany.”
Now, look at a map of Europe, and see what is to the east of the old “East Germany,” or German Democratic Republic, and what would be considered the eastern part of Germany if you considered East Germany to be “central Germany.”
As a senior Polish official put it to me this week, “We’ve seen this movie before, and we don’t like how it ends.”
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