Donald Trump could actually expect more than this from a loyal MAGA friend, from a brother in the right spirit: his war in Iran is “contrary to international law”. The president has no “exit strategy.” He has “no strategy at all.” People have been rejecting “regime change” for a long time.

And then AfD leader Tino Chrupalla gets really personal: “I am extremely disappointed in Donald Trump.” After all, he once accused his Democratic rival Kamala Harris of sliding into a Third World War, but: “Now we are on the threshold of having probably started the Third World War with Donald Trump.”

The Iran war changes a lot – including the relationship between Trump and the AfD

Now a television talk show is something different than a public speech that has been carefully prepared and chemically cleaned three times by employees, but no one has ever expressed hostility towards the American president like the AfD leader.

The Iran war is changing a lot. Also the relationship between the AfD and the Trump administration. Gone are the days when people invaded Washington in groups to take a position with the Trump administration against their “own” federal government – ​​in the spirit of right-wing fraternization.

Ideological closeness was suddenly more important than national unity to the outside world – an old tradition of Federal Republic foreign policy. You don’t open the door to domestic politics abroad; that was one of the unwritten rules of democracy.

For the Trump side, the AfD has defected to the enemy camp

After Chrupalla’s statement, it seems inconceivable that American Vice President JD Vance would once again call for people to vote for the AfD in Germany. Because:

The AfD has now defected to the enemy camp. To where right-wing anti-Americanism has always been. One might have expected that the AfD would like Americans and Israelis to snuff out the lifeblood of an Islamofascist regime like the one in Tehran. But that’s not how it is.

Suddenly the proximity to Putin comes through again

The Iran war has thrown the AfD into a dilemma. Before that, the US was the sidekick, as were the Israelis. Suddenly Israel’s self-defense against Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions no longer counts. What only counts are “German interests”. And in the narrower sense. And the proximity to Putin is coming through again.

Not just at Chrupalla. Also with Alice Weidel. As she explained a week ago, German foreign energy policy had become “fatally dependent” on American liquid natural gas and LNG from the Middle Eastern Gulf states. Instead of resuming “relations with Russia” – including gas and oil deliveries.

Refraining from Russian energy supplies is a “collective self-harm”. Likewise, Germany cannot and should not afford the “hopeless extension” of the war in Ukraine.

The Iran war is changing a lot, including in this new-right transatlantic love affair. The AfD-MAGA honeymoon was, as Chrupalla and Weidel’s statements show, apparently nothing more than a political one-night stand.

Nationalism is not a team event

The current rift confirms an old insight: nationalism is not a team event. If everyone is only their own neighbor, how can people come together across national borders or even an ocean?

Now the truth is that the Iran war is increasingly causing chaos. The Chancellor has now changed his tone. During his visit to Washington, loyalty to number one in the alliance still prevailed. Hardly a day goes by without Merz expressing his skepticism about this war. There are solid, even selfish reasons for this.

The war has long since arrived in Germany

The Iran war endangers the economic recovery. He is a threat to government finances. And it also puts the governing coalition in danger. SPD leader Klingbeil and Merz take the opposite view when it comes to a breach of international law in Iran.

This war, in which the Europeans are just onlookers, has long since arrived in Germany. It is causing drastic increases in fuel prices, even greater budgetary difficulties – and, in the foreseeable future, increasing uncertainty among the population, if not fear of war. And:

There can be no talk of European unity. Critics of the USA range from the far left to the far right in Europe. From Spain’s socialist Sanches, to France’s Macron and the Dutch Prime Minister Jessen to Italy’s Meloni. Only Merz avoids the question of whether international law was violated.

When it comes to Europe, you could almost say: Actually, everything is as usual. But what also becomes clear: Germany’s Chancellor is far from playing any “leading role” in Europe. Commission President von der Leyen is also coming under increasing pressure.

The Americans have miscalculated; everything could take longer than Trump announced. And it will also get worse, including for Germany. This Thursday, the UN announced that 3.2 million people are now on the run in Iran.

The AfD says the borders have to be closed.