{"id":702433,"date":"2026-01-17T16:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702433\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T16:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:17:10","slug":"when-even-the-german-far-right-thinks-youve-gone-too-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702433\/","title":{"rendered":"When Even the German Far-Right Thinks You’ve Gone Too Far . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Der F\u00fchrer, upon learning that things are not going as he would like.<\/p>\n

From Politico.eu<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Germany\u2019s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has long sought close ties to the Trump administration in its quest for powerful international allies and an end to its political isolation at home.<\/p>\n

But as public sentiment in Germany increasingly turns against U.S. President Donald Trump and his foreign interventionism \u2014 in particular his talk of taking control of Greenland and his seizure of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro \u2014 AfD leaders are recalibrating, putting distance between their party and a U.S. president they previously embraced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has violated a fundamental election promise, namely not to interfere in other countries, and he has to explain that to his own voters,\u201d Alice Weidel, one of the AfD\u2019s national leaders, said earlier this week.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hmm . . . I don\u2019t recall Weidel complaining when Trump, Vance, and Musk were stumping for the Afd in the last national elections in Germany.<\/p>\n

With that as background, it\u2019s that much more impressive that Weidel now is throwing Trump under the bus. Think about that for a minute: a would-be F\u00fchrer who is underbussed by the neo-Nazi AfD is no F\u00fchrer at all. And for it to be the German far-right . . . that\u2019s really gotta leave a mark. Stephen Miller must be so sad.<\/p>\n

Or emboldened. \u201cThese AfD folks are so soft, so lacking in strength . . . Looks like it is up to us to remind Germans of their own heritage and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AfD is the second-largest party in the Bundestag, much to the horror of Germany\u2019s conservatives and liberals alike, and the AfD seems to support everything Miller and Trump embrace: Islamophobia, anti-immigration, and historical revisionism, just to name a few. Even so, the AfD looks at Trump\u2019s comments about Greenland (following his actions in Venezuela) and says \u201cno thanks \u2013 that\u2019s too extreme, even for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter Mike Godwin, of Godwin\u2019s Law fame, speaking with Politico<\/a> two years ago:<\/p>\n

\n

So to be clear \u2014 do you think comparing Trump\u2019s rhetoric to Hitler or Nazi ideology is fair?<\/b><\/p>\n

I would go further than that. I think that it would be fair to say that Trump knows what he\u2019s doing. I think he chose that rhetoric on purpose. But yeah, there are some real similarities. If you\u2019ve read Hitler\u2019s own writing \u2014 which I don\u2019t recommend to anyone, by the way \u2014 you see a dehumanizing dimension throughout, but the speeches are an even more interesting case.<\/p>\n

What we have of Hitler\u2019s speeches are mostly recorded, and they\u2019re not always particularly coherent. What you see in efforts to compile his speeches are scholars trying to piece together what they sounded like. So, it\u2019s a little bit like going to watch a standup comedian who\u2019s hitting all of his great lines. You see again and again Hitler repeating himself. He\u2019ll repeat the same lines or the same sentiment on different occasions.<\/p>\n

With Trump, whatever else you might say about him, he knows what kinds of lines generate the kinds of reactions that he wants. The purpose of the rallies is to have applause lines, because that creates good media, that creates video. And if he repeats his lines again and again, it increases the likelihood that a particular line will be repeated in media reporting. So that\u2019s right out of the playbook.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And now the lines aren\u2019t hitting in quite the same way, as the AfD (of all people!) has noticed. Nothing hurts worse that being the open-mic comedian who throws out what they think is a great punchline, only to hear the sounds of silence.<\/p>\n

Godwin ends his interview like this:<\/p>\n

\n

When I was growing up and being taught the American system of government, we would always be taught that the U.S. government has checks and balances in its design, so you can\u2019t take it over with a sentiment of the moment. But I think what we\u2019ve learned is that the institutions that protect us are fragile. History suggests that all democracies are fragile. So we have to be on the alert for political movements that want to undermine democratic institutions, because the purpose of democratic institutions is not to put the best people in power, it\u2019s to maintain democracy even when the worst people are in power. That\u2019s a big lift.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cEven when the worst people are in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godwin said that two years ago, but damned it if doesn\u2019t sound like he said it yesterday. And we are finding out now just how big a lift it is to maintain democracy with folks like that in power.<\/p>\n

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