AfD’s Weidel Speaks Exclusively to The American Conservative

Ms. Weidel, thank you for agreeing to talk to The American Conservative. In a recent Bloomberg interview, you mentioned that you’re a libertarian in your position on taxation and the war in Ukraine. And yet you’re considered far-right in Germany for your immigration stance and your position on the EU. To clarify, for the public, are you in favor of staying within the EU or leaving the EU, as it is increasingly unreformable?

I have to thank you for the opportunity to talk to you about these things. To be clear: neither I nor my party are right-wing extremists. You must know that in Germany this accusation is a battle cry of the left, which dominates the public discourse. The left doesn’t even think it’s necessary to provide evidence for this accusation. No matter what, in their eyes anything that doesn’t want to be like them is “right-wing extremist.”

Regarding your question about leaving the EU: It’s really a simple calculation. Germany does not need the EU to survive; however, the reverse is very much the case. {snip}

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Your co-leader Tino Chrupalla recently said that Germany is being forced to do America’s bidding and that NATO isn’t an alliance in Europe’s interest. In reality though, we have seen, on one hand, that most Americans are unwilling to further involve the U.S. or to fund the war in Ukraine, and on the other, that most Europeans, from the Baltics to Poland to Britain and France, as well as the EU superstructure, want more support for Ukraine. How do you address this contradiction?

Things are a bit complex, so please excuse me if I digress a bit. The United States is undoubtedly a unique global superpower that has spread its vast influence worldwide. This is what we usually call an empire. However, it is a strange empire: an empire that rules the world from Monday to Wednesday but doesn’t want to do so again from Thursday to Sunday. This is the eternal battle between expansionists and isolationists that has probably been raging since the independence of the U.S.

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Well, then Nord Stream was eliminated in an act of war. The current German federal government’s fear of not pointing the finger at the attacker under any circumstances says it all. Is this what the U.S. wants? Germany as a colony? A colony that doesn’t have the right to decide about its own energy policy? A nation that does not have the right to follow its own path, wherever it may lead? The U.S. can do all this as the shining winner of history. But then they have to want it too, they have to say it too, so that we can adapt to it.

Because we Germans are a defeated people. “Anything that has lost its independence has at the same time lost the ability to intervene in the flow of time and to freely determine its content,” describes the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Such people “from now on no longer have any time of their own, but count their years according to the events and periods of foreign nations and empires.” We Germans have lived in this situation for a long time, definitely to the advantage of the U.S. But we as individuals also benefited from it, I won’t deny that.

Being a slave also has advantages. It is the noblest right of a servant not to take part in his master’s battles, but to enjoy peace. But the U.S. leadership doesn’t like that either. The many wars of the last 30 years, in Europe, in the Middle East, we were expected to participate in all of them at the request of the U.S. But why should we? We no longer have to fight wars, we already said goodbye to history. Due to that, we have disfigured our military beyond recognition.

But now, when we have reached the point of absolute nullity, our political leaders have discovered enthusiasm for war. Belligerence has become a state-mandated madness not seen since the end of the last world war. Opposition-leading CDU is currently outdoing the ruling parties in who can make the loudest, most vulgar war cry. All this despite complete military incompetence. What we see here are, really and truly, the wild sexual fantasies of impotent people. We will end this grotesque charade as quickly as possible.

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Elon Musk has thrown his support behind you, as well as Nigel Farage in Britain. Are we seeing a Europe wide tech-right emerging? If so, what are the challenges ahead?

We are extremely grateful for this support. I wouldn’t describe this as the emergence of a “Europe-wide tech-right.” In reality, the political left has built up an enormous monopoly of opinion for many decades. This is even more the case here in Germany than in the U.S., primarily because there are many more state-controlled institutions here, dominated by leftists. For example, we have a public broadcaster that is financed with eight billion euros every year. This is unique worldwide. Therefore, we should talk about a “tech-left.” But this monopoly is crumbling.

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From Giorgia Meloni in Italy to the Le Pens in France, we have seen moderation of platforms to attain governing power. If you have to form any coalition, however unlikely, in Germany, which positions of your party are you willing to compromise on, and which ones are redlines?

We don’t have to compromise. The only German party that is still ahead of us in the polls is the CDU. Why is that? Because the CDU simply copies our party program as its own demands for the election campaign. That’s really unbelievable, but it’s actually true right down to individual formulations. Of course, they don’t want to implement any of this. It’s just a lie. The CDU has ruled out a coalition with us, so only the left remains.

Perhaps the CDU will once again betray its voters, as it has done many times before. But I think this time will be their last betrayal. Because there is now an Alternative for Germany, whether or not we obtain the majority. Maybe the CDU is going to catch their very last chance by entering into a coalition with us. Then we will simply implement what the CDU itself demanded in the election campaign. Either way, we will impose our will.

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