Suddenly Trump Is the Mentor

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are encouraging the European right to do the same as they do. Alice Weidel is particularly well-disposed to them. In Austria, Herbert Kickl is on the verge of becoming chancellor.

Naturally, one could be amused by the way Elon Musk publicly chats with Weidel on his social media platform, X. That’s what happens when two people who don’t know each other and have nothing to say chat to each other in public.

The chancellor candidate’s remark that Adolf Hitler was a communist is memorable. This was her exclusive assessment; did she have nothing else to criticize Hitler for?

Obviously, what she said didn’t matter. The issue was that Musk and Weidel were talking to each other, and that’s very significant.

Not Actually Friends

Interesting changes are taking place. Suddenly, Donald Trump is the mentor of European right-wing populists and extremists. Vladimir Putin, who provided money and goodwill, is now less in demand.

The European right and their best friends overseas are now watching with interest to see whether Austria will be the next domino to fall. If Kickl can form a coalition with the Austrian People’s Party, as there is much to suggest he will, he will become the next hero to earn Trump and Musk’s attention.

The U.S. is no friend of the German right. America is too materialistic, too superficial, places too much emphasis on money, it’s a world power with little perspective. In the national conservative historiography, a defeated Germany took the wrong path in 1949 by reducing itself to a European copy of the victorious power. Germany has become a little America, with the original Germany being lost to time. What this means is more than ambiguous.

Not only is the Alternative for Germany closer to Russia, but Alexander Gauland* has a soft spot for the larger than life Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who knew how to juggle many balls after the wars of unification without committing to either the East or the West.

Preferences Get Mixed Up

But more modest right-wing minds are fascinated with Putin, the strongman who takes what he wants. And for romantics, it is the vastness of Russia and the richness of the Russian soul that inspires them.

Now the preferences have become surprisingly mixed up. Trump is making sure of this by being who he is, for example, claiming Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada for himself before he even takes office.

His basic attitude that America comes first and last and that alliances should be handled according to how useful they are corresponds to the AfD’s wishes for Germany. The condemnation of everything liberal, which always sounds like annihilation fantasies when it comes to Trump, also speaks to the hearts of Weidel, Björn Höcke and others. The result is a new appreciation for Trump’s America.

The AfD is by no means alone. Giorgia Meloni has just paid her respects at Mar-a-Lago. It’s unusual for a sitting prime minister to be unable to wait until the host has moved back into the White House. In return, Trump makes no secret of his appreciation for Viktor Orbán.

The Bad Omen

Austria is now the first to stir things up: From a German perspective, Austria was a country that many could look down on without consequences. Burgtheater, yes, Salzburg and the play called “Jedermann,” that’s also fine. Former Chancellor Bruno Kreisky was great, but other than those? Jörg Haider was the dull extra event, a younger version of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who made lascivious comments about the Hitler era. Incidentally, Kickl was Haider’s speech writer.

At the same time, Austria is the bad omen. The self-mutilation of the ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party of Austria are apparent there, as well as the impossibility of keeping the strongest faction, the Freedom Party of Austria, out of power in the long term by installing artificial governments.

Yes, things aren’t like that in Germany yet. But the breakup of the Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner government is another example of the incompatibility of the incompatible. And now a lot hangs on Friedrich Merz getting a good result on Feb. 23, so, he can form a solid government that takes care of the essentials.

It would be good if Germany can prove Musk, who thinks that the AfD is the only solution, is wrong.

*Editor’s note: Alexander Gauland is the leader of the Alternative for Germany party.