Dissatisfaction with AfD classification: US Secretary of State Rubio speaks of "tyranny" in Germany

The US government is close to the AfD, and the reaction to the party's classification as "confirmed right-wing extremist" has been correspondingly disgruntled. Secretary of State Rubio claims to be concerned about democracy in Germany. The Foreign Office counters.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke of "tyranny" in Germany following the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution's classification of the AfD as "confirmed right-wing extremist ." "Germany has just granted its intelligence agency new powers to monitor the opposition," Rubio wrote on X. "This is not democracy—this is disguised tyranny," he continued.

The true extremism lies not in the "popular AfD," which became the second-strongest party in the federal election in February, "but in the establishment's deadly open-border immigration policy, which the AfD opposes," Rubio continued. "Germany should reverse its course."

The German Foreign Office later responded to Rubio's X-post, declaring: "This is democracy." It continued: "This decision is the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our constitution and the rule of law." The final word rests with "independent courts," declared the Foreign Office, which otherwise rarely comments on domestic political events. "We have learned from our history that right-wing extremism must be stopped." CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter fired back with a counterattack. "You should reverse your course of undermining AND exploiting the rules-based international order to the detriment of Ukraine and NATO," Kiesewetter wrote under Rubio's post.

Vance also argues with popularity ratings

US Vice President J.D. Vance, who had already condemned the other parties' refusal to cooperate with the AfD at the Munich Security Conference in February, also commented on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution's classification. The AfD is the "most popular party" in Germany, he wrote on X. Now "the bureaucrats are trying to destroy it," he continued. "The West tore down the Berlin Wall together," Vance wrote. "And it was rebuilt—not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment."

US tech billionaire and presidential advisor Elon Musk also commented on X, also citing the right-wing extremists' poll ratings. He wrote that "a ban on the AfD, Germany's most popular party, would be an extreme attack on democracy." Musk had repeatedly promoted the AfD before the federal election, including in a guest article in "Welt am Sonntag." At the time, he argued that the AfD could not be right-wing extremist because party leader Alice Weidel had a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka.

Since Friday, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the AfD as "confirmed right-wing extremist." The reason is the "extremist character of the entire party, which disregards human dignity," the Cologne-based federal office said. Previously, the AfD as a whole had only been classified as a suspected case.