AfD 2025 goes 'completely Trump'

Throughout 2025, we repeatedly pointed out how the Trump administration and the MAGA movement's support for the AfD had enhanced the party's international reputation: from Elon Musk's support during the election campaign to the invitation to the CPAC conference in Budapest and Alice Weidel's speech there, as well as the numerous visits to Washington, D.C. since Trump took office.

The AfD's invitation to the 113th gala of the New York Young Republicans Club (NYYRC) has further accelerated the AfD's development into a party associated with the MAGA movement. At the event on December 13 in Manhattan, Markus Frohnmaier, the AfD's candidate for minister-president in the March 8 elections in Baden-Württemberg and head of the Bundestag faction's working group on foreign policy, was presented with the Allen W. Dulles Award and gave a short speech. Frohnmaier and the AfD members who had traveled with him—two MEPs, ten members of the Bundestag, and seven members of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt, plus accompanying persons and unnamed staff members—were able to refresh some of their existing contacts and make new ones. Some, such as Jan Wenzel Schmidt, who is currently under pressure, and MEP Rene Aust, were already in attendance at the pre-gala reception the evening before.

Contacts with NYYRC are not new

The AfD had already maintained contacts with the NYYRC in previous years, particularly with its then president, Gavin Wax. In 2022, Nicolaus Fest and Maximilian Krah, both MEPs at the time, attended the annual gala. In May 2023, Wax visited the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag and participated in a Euro-political panel on Nord Stream and the allegedly endangered German sovereignty. He was also a frequent visitor to CPAC and other international conferences. The NYYRC is also part of the Patriots Network and occasionally hosts its international meetings in New York.

This time, the extensive travel activities of the AfD delegation, financed by taxpayers' money, attracted public attention. Only isolated criticism came from the right-wing scene regarding the acceptance of an award named after Allen W. Dulles, CIA director between 1953 and 1961, and thus after an outstanding representative of US interventionism.

The fact that both the AfD's leading candidate in the upcoming state elections and members of the state parliamentary group from Saxony-Anhalt were invited (whose inexperience on the international stage was clearly visible and commented on by the media) illustrates the MAGA movement's intention to do everything to support the AfD on its path to power in Germany. “Is Trump intervening now?” was the title of an interview in COMPACT with Member of the Bundestag Anna Rathert, who met for talks with Trump confidante Anna Paulina Luna. Luna also met with AfD MEP Alexander Sell, head of ESN - Europe of Sovereign Nations in the European Parliament, who, in addition to Luna, who is primarily known as a media figure, also met with the chairman of CPAC - Conservative Political Action Conference, Matthew Schlapp. These are just a few of the political meetings attended by members of the delegation during their stay.

These meetings serve to allow the inexperienced AfD forces to benefit from the Trump administration's experience in taking over the government. Or, as Alice Weidel is quoted as saying: “In order to strengthen the network between the two parties, a ‘leader program’ between young politicians from the AfD and Republicans is also planned for the first quarter.” Several AfD channels announced from Washington that further meetings and conferences are planned, including in Berlin in February and March. A visit by co-chair Weidel to the US is also expected this year.

And one can probably already place a bet on when the first conference of the MAGA or MEGA movement will take place in the German capital: as early as 2026 or perhaps not until the following year.

Further details on the NYYRC Gala can be found here in our event reports.

Redaction: Ulli Jentsch