The Limits of Ideological Alignment
MAGA, the AfD, and American-German Relations
Speaker:
Zsuzsanna Végh, DAAD/AGI Research Fellow, American-German Institute; Program Officer, German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF)
Moderator:
Eric Langenbacher, Senior Fellow and Director of the Society, Culture, & Politics Program, American-German Institute
The return of Donald Trump to the White House brought a qualitatively new challenge to the American-German relationship. As senior members of the Trump administration and the broader MAGA movement openly challenged the German mainstream’s approach to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), AfD politicians cultivated increasingly visible ties with political allies in the United States. These connections appeared to point toward an emerging new transatlantic alignment as well as an opposition to the liberal political mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet the relationship is proving to be less straightforward than it initially appeared, and the Trump administration’s war in Iran eventually prompted the AfD to distance itself from the U.S. president. At the same time, political tensions between Washington and Berlin have persisted, raising broader questions about the foundations and future resilience of the bilateral relationship.
This webinar examines what the evolution of MAGA-AfD ties reveals about the changing political landscape of American-German relations. It explores how ideological affinities and transnational political networks interact with traditional diplomacy; whether the recent cooling of AfD-MAGA relations represents a temporary adjustment or points to the limits of transatlantic far-right cooperation; and what these developments mean for Germany’s relationship with the United States.
Event Summary
A “Political Situationship”
What may be initially perceived as a strategic, transatlantic alliance between U.S. President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is, in essence, more of a “situationship.” The MAGA-AfD relationship took off in the public eye in 2025 through a budding affinity in shared ideological values, including support for an EU-U.S. civilizational alliance. However, since Spring 2026, the relationship has publicly diminished following U.S. operations in Iran.
Contact between the two groups has been conducted through a loose network of major points of contact rather than through a structured alliance. Such contacts are comprised of party/administrative leadership, youth and conservative organizations, and social media platforms and influencers. What initially opened this cooperation and continues to drive the shared desire to work together ultimately relies on two categories of similarity: ideological affinity (e.g., anti-immigration, Euroscepticism, anti-woke politics) and mutual utility (e.g., legitimation, pressure on the liberal mainstream).
Limited, Yet Significant
The MAGA-AfD relationship falls short of being a strategic alliance due to inherent substantive and structural limitations. These include tensions within the AfD regarding their approach to the United States, collisions in foreign policy interests, the potentially negative impact of affiliation with President Trump on the public perception of AfD in Germany, and the AfD’s sparse organizational ecosystem that could facilitate the deepening of the relationship. As a result, the relationship is better understood as a tactical cooperation, where both parties can draw benefits from the cooperation.
Yet, the relationship is not inconsequential. A dual-track relationship has developed between Germany and the United States where pragmatic cooperation continues around existing priorities through official channels, while partisan ties between MAGA and the AfD develop in parallel, often challenging the bilateral relationship between the two countries. With MAGA’s institutionalization in the United States and the AfD’s increased momentum in Germany, the ‘old consensus’—the foundations of the American-German relationship through democratic cooperation and strategic transatlantic alliance—is eroding.
To help predict how the “situationship” may evolve, one must continue to observe how the AfD ultimately reconciles its affinity with MAGA and its deeply rooted anti-Americanism, how the Republican Party’s leadership evolves beyond the Trump presidency, whether the AfD manages to develop an organizational ecosystem that can facilitate its transatlantic networking, and what role transatlantic funding may play in this.
Discussion
The AfD’s association with the MAGA movement has not automatically boosted the party’s legitimacy within the European Union; the party is fairly isolated among the European right. The lack of durable supportive structures—as of now—hamper the AfD’s international role and the recent election defeat of the Hungarian Fidesz party—which increasingly backed the AfD in the past years—means the loss of a powerful player that could have helped the legitimization of the party on the European scene.
The discussion also highlights clashes between MAGA and the AfD, particularly in foreign policy interests. Though showing significant ideological overlap, the AfD’s pro-Russian orientation clashes with its opening toward the United States and the Trump administration’s tariff impositions, its claims toward Greenland (Denmark), and intervention in Venezuela and Iran have been sources of tension in the AfD.
Further questions cover the AfD’s connections with the wider GOP and the different factions under MAGA. This discussion highlights the groups’ shared goal of challenging the current democratic framework and their engagement through indirect channels. A potential AfD-government in Saxony-Anhalt would have limited direct impact on official Berlin-Washington relations despite the party’s domestic significance. Final questions address the AfD’s challenges in building and funding an organizational network that is impacted by its domestic and international perception.
This event is supported by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Foreign Office.
