FOCUS columnist Jan Fleischhauer can only marvel at this in the “Black Channel”. The reason is a sentence by AfD leader Tino Chrupalla about the military strikes by Israel and the USA: “I don’t celebrate rocket attacks, no matter which country or who they come from. You can’t celebrate that because civilians are always killed.”

Fleischhauer’s dry reaction: “I thought one Katrin Göring-Eckardt was enough in the German Bundestag.” And mocks: “So soldierly virtues? They all pray together with Katrin Göring-Eckardt in a circle.”

Fisticuffs at the AfD

The dispute over direction is also causing turbulence internally. There is even said to have been a violent scene at a parliamentary group meeting: Beatrix von Storch met her party colleague Kay Gottschalk – and according to his account, he received two bludgers on the forehead. Of course, according to von Storch, officially it was just a “tap”.

For Fleischhauer, the incident shows one thing above all else: “You can tell from this that the waves are rising.”

The columnist finds it particularly amusing that even media outlets that are normally considered particularly close to the AfD are now being criticized in the dispute. “So if NIUS is already considered filthy left-green, what are you, as a good AfD official, left with that is guaranteed to be relaxing reading?”

Trump: From friend to warmonger in the blink of an eye

What is also notable for him is the quick political turn towards Donald Trump. Just a few weeks ago, the US President was considered a close ally and supporter of AfD politicians.

Now the party is criticizing his attacks on Iran and Chrupalla is even calling him a wartime president. “That was your best buddy, your cuddly king,” says Fleischhauer, wondering about the quickly crumbling solidarity.