In April 1928, Joseph Goebbels, who would later become the head propagandist for the Third Reich, penned an essay in a newspaper tackling a curious question. He wondered why the National Socialists, despite their anti-parliamentary stance, decided to participate in that May’s elections. Goebbels explained it with blunt pragmatism: “We enter the Reichstag to arm ourselves with democracy’s weapons. If democracy is naive enough to offer us free railway passes and salaries, then that’s its own problem. We are not bothered. Any method to trigger the revolution suits us just fine.”
Germany’s post-World War II federal republic, built upon the fascist devastation left by the Nazis, has been shadowed by Goebbels’s bold insult ever since. How can a society that values freedom prevent itself from being exploited and potentially destroyed by the very rights it extends to those who oppose such freedoms? How does it avoid a fate similar to postwar Czechoslovakia, where Communist parties managed to secure a deadly grip on budding democracies? Consider the Palestinians, who elected Mahmoud Abbas as president in 2005 and then voted for Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary elections—and have since seen no further elections.
For nations with a history of totalitarian rule, discovering effective solutions to these dilemmas is challenging. Germany, however, stands out as a model, maintaining its democratic integrity not because of a blind adherence to unfettered liberty (no democracy does), but through vigilant oversight of democracy’s adversaries and a conscientious remembrance of its past. Americans, in particular, should appreciate this, considering the toll paid in lives in the battle against Germany’s former political regimes.
Yet, not everyone seems to acknowledge this, including JD Vance. Last week, at the Munich Security Conference, the vice president, who notably refuses to acknowledge Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, delivered a speech criticizing Europe’s perceived retreat from democratic values. This, coupled with his meeting with the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, sparked controversy—a scandal stemming from sheer arrogance laced with hypocrisy.
Why does the AfD disturb so many Germans, even among traditional conservatives? The party emerged in 2013, initially contesting Germany’s fiscal decisions in Europe. It gained further traction by opposing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy of accepting over a million Middle Eastern refugees. However, the party soon drifted into more ominous territory. In 2017, Björn Höcke, influential in Thuringia, derided Germany for being “the only people in the world who’ve planted a monument of shame at the heart of their capital,” referencing the Holocaust memorial—calling for “nothing less than a 180-degree turnaround in the politics of remembrance.” In 2018, the then party leader Alexander Gauland downplayed the significance of “Hitler and the Nazis” as “just a speck of bird shit in over 1,000 years of successful German history.”
Last year, the German investigative outlet Correctiv disclosed a meeting in 2023 where AfD politicians and other far-right extremists convened near Berlin. They discussed a “master plan” for the “remigration” of migrants to their countries of origin—regardless of whether these individuals were asylum seekers, permanent residents, or German nationals. Among the notable attendees was Martin Sellner, an Austrian and self-professed leader of the identitarian movement, who admitted to defacing a synagogue with swastikas as a teenager.
This history partly explains why Germany’s mainstream parties consistently reject forming coalitions with the AfD, even as it polls strongly in upcoming elections. Vance might believe democracy should welcome any party or viewpoint, but would he hold the same opinion if a similarly antisemitic and anti-democratic Muslim Brotherhood-style party were polling at 20 percent?
There’s another reason to worry about the AfD. Recently, Erika Solomon from The Times reported on a secret session in the German Parliament, where links between AfD politicians and Kremlin-associated operatives surfaced. Although the AfD dismisses these claims, it aligns with their intent to halt German military aid to Ukraine and revive the Nord Stream pipelines for Russian gas supply to Germany.
During its first term, the Trump administration staunchly opposed Nord Stream, rightly arguing it made Germany too reliant on an adversary of the West. One might question Ric Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Berlin and now special envoy, why there’s such a shift towards endorsing a party that leans towards a geopolitical foe?
There are worthwhile discussions to be had about whether European states sometimes overreach in restricting legitimate free speech. Another could focus on how Europe’s supposed mainstream right-of-center parties, particularly Germany’s Christian Democrats under Merkel, adopted left-leaning policies on issues like migration, security, and energy, pushing conservatives to the far right.
For now, it’s worth noting: similar to a British prime minister of the past, an American vice president journeyed to Munich, extolling his ideals while dining with those who would dismantle democratic principles. It’s nothing short of disgraceful.
