February 15, 2025 - 8:15pm
Blankenburg, Germany
It’s Friday night at a small AfD campaign rally in Blankenburg, on the outskirts of Berlin, and local party bigwig Beatrix von Storch is jubilant. After warming up by bashing Germany’s “woke public broadcasters” she switches to the subject she really wants to talk about: “JD Vance’s speech today was fantastic!” She is met by unbridled applause.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference earlier that day, the American Vice President had declared: “What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values […] More and more all over Europe, they are voting for political leaders who promise to put an end to out-of-control migration. Now, I happen to agree with a lot of these concerns, but you don’t have to agree with me.” He added: “There’s no room for firewalls.”
A week before the German elections, Vance’s comments are being viewed as nothing less than an endorsement of the Right-wing, anti-immigration AfD. This was compounded by the VP’s decision to snub German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Munich and meet AfD leader Alice Weidel instead. Speaking at the conference earlier today, Scholz publicly accused Vance of interfering in his country’s elections. His likely successor, CDU leader Friedrich Merz, echoed the sentiment.
Only weeks before, Elon Musk’s face was projected on a giant screen at an AfD campaign event in eastern Germany. The Tesla boss has been promoting the party’s talking points for months, and even interviewed Weidel in January.
Back in Blankenburg, von Storch, who attended Donald Trump’s inauguration, rhapsodised about DOGE’s blitzkrieg on the US government: “That’s exactly what we need in Germany! Drain the swamp!” This time, the applause was more subdued. Could it be that AfD supporters, generally suspicious of elites, are somewhat less optimistic about the interventions of the world’s richest man?
That’s certainly true for the 80% of voters expected to vote for other parties. For normal, middle-class Germans, Musk is too unhinged, too reckless, and too rich. Young crypto-enthusiasts aside, few conservative voters will be persuaded to shift their votes. Indeed, Germans are now abandoning their Teslas.
Similar is true when considering German attitudes toward Vance and his indictment of Europe as a hotbed of censorship. This sort of talk might resonate with the AfD, but the majority of voters are more concerned about limiting irregular immigration and kickstarting the economy. From the centre-left to the centre-right, Vance’s polemic didn’t feel like the encouragement of an ally — it felt like a threat. There’s a new sheriff in town, essentially.
One popular theory is that the strategy behind this MAGA meddling is to sow disruption and uncertainty at the heart of the EU: to divide and conquer, not unlike the Kremlin’s pro-AfD bot armies. Whether this is true or not, and the German polls haven’t substantially moved as a result, centrist politicians have received an almighty wake-up call.
If, after winning next Sunday’s election, Merz dared to form a coalition with the AfD, he would face serious social unrest and mass defections from the CDU. Instead, he will opt for the same middle-of-the-road grand coalition with the SPD that Germans experienced during the Merkel era — albeit with significantly tougher rules on immigration.
However, the CDU leader will also be preoccupied with how he can forge a relationship with the White House. A former lawyer who has bolstered his fortune by sitting on the boards of corporate giants such as BlackRock, Merz is confident he speaks the same language as Trump and can make deals which are beneficial for Germany and Europe.
Yet the messages coming from the new sheriff and his deputies suggest this isn’t going to be easy. Merz is as pro-European and transatlanticist as any other postwar German leader. The challenges he faces — fixing immigration, defence and the economy — are huge. What’s more, he’ll have to solve all of these without American help. Maybe the maximalist MAGA rhetoric is just the usual Trumpian opening gambit in an attempt to strike a better deal for America. Maybe it’s more serious. Either way, Merz should start practicing his poker face.
Maurice Frank co-founded the English magazine Exberliner and now co-writes the newsletter 20 Percent Berlin.
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SubscribeThere can’t be that many German readers of Unherd. Why is there yet another article on the impact of Vance’s speech abroad but none on the impact on the UK?
Vance said no more firewalls.
Unherd, write about this. What is the UK’s biggest firewall? The treatment of Tommy Robinson, who has for years been talking about the problems of Muslim integration in England. He is the journalist in prison who Vance alluded to in his Munich speech.
By deflecting criticism from Labour and smearing Robinson Unherd supports this firewall. And thereby, unwittingly or not, condones the Labour-Muslim-vote corruption, the Pakistani rape gangs, and subsequent feelings of injustice and despair. It all remains hidden behind the firewall.
Vance was right to be most worried for ‘his friends in Britain.’
The enemy is within for sure. And Unherd by upholding the firewall damages our democracy.
Just for once, will you stick to the f***ing subject of the article? Nobody cares about your incessant whining!
You put a lot of energy into telling this publication what to do. Is there not a massive gap in the market for a sober ‘right wing’ publication that doesn’t pull any punches but stays away from ranting and kamikaze chess moves? I think so.
I am making a very specific point. In the case of UK the media and Unherd acts as a firewall to exclude right ring views from being heard which in turn prevents the formation of right wing parties.
You don’t have to agree with me.
Then write an article and put it to various publications to see if they’ll print it, and stop repeating the same tripe ad nauseam on every story on here.
Seeing as Im sure it will be a load of whining nonsense though I’ll wager you won’t have many takers
No need. I can make my point very clearly here. And it becomes more valid with every article Unherd publishes.
Its a shame nobody here cares what you have to say then isn’t it!
You seem to.
I’ve no interest in your opinions because they’re the ramblings of a simpleton. What annoys me us the way you flood every comments section with the same copy and pasted unrelated tripe
Everyone needs the training wheels to come off the bike at some point, so yes, Germany will need to fix its issues without US help
Their first order of business could be honoring the will of their voters, rather than pretending popular will is fascist, racist, or otherwise deplorable.
Secondly, they could allow their citizens to consume goods and services, rather than relying utterly on export markets. European life would seem very spartan, to the average middle class American.
Thirdly, they could arm themselves. Austria and Germany still manufacture some of the worlds finest small arms – American policemen carry Glocks, while our commandos often carry Sig Sauer or Heckler & Koch weapons, and FN, Beretta, Rigby, and Holland & Holland are still active businesses.
Finally, they could be considerably more clear eyed about whom they grant entry. There are far too many rallies against Israel, and in favor of Hamas.
“albeit with significantly tougher rules on immigration.” Of course, nothing will change, the same people, the same elites will remain in power. Moreover, SPD will immediately return to the government as part of the coalition. I doubt even AfD would make much difference as they would never get majority and would need to compromise. That’s not a bug, it’s by design
My thinking exactly the SPD will demand their pound of flesh I expect very little will change and as with America where school shootings are simply expected so will Germans learn to live with regular car rammings.
Successfully painting those who wish to protect free speech and control immigration as far right and fascist has perhaps been one the most outrageous of political manipulations of all time.
Unherd will never write about the firewalls in the UK. How could it when it upholds them?
It all fits together. Unherd as firewall. Everything you want to say is prevented by hate-thought laws and by media no-platforming.
Every day that goes by now, under Starmer-Hermer-Sands and by ideological contrast, in the mirror world of Trump-Vance-Musk reveals the disgrace which is our mainstream media and the little poisoned microcosm known as Unherd.
We have no Right wing parties and that is because of the media’s no-platforming and smearing of right wing views.
When is Unherd going to stop ignoring and write about the Chagos debacle?
“Labour’s Chagos deportation deal is an expensive farce”
“The historic naivety of Keir Starmer’s Chagos decision”
“Why is Keir Starmer comparing himself to Clement Attlee?”
“Keir Starmer’s human rights law worldview is dying”
4 articles on UnHerd that do exactly that. Go and flood those comments section to your hearts content
I’ve linked articles for him before, several times, which he claims Unherd doesn’t publish. Only conclusion is he’s got an anti-Unherd agenda. He litters Comments like a juvenile lout dropping his lager cans in the streets.
Whilst I mostly agree with Vance’s comments, especially in regards to immigration (although it’s rather hypocritical of the yanks to lecture anybody on the subject), I find the overt interference in other nations domestic politics to be rather distasteful. Plenty complain, me included, when Soros used his wealth to buy influence abroad or Labour sending volunteers to assists Harris’ campaign so I believe it’s rather hypocritical not to criticise Vance for doing the same.
I’d agree with that in principle, but the difference with JDV is the protective umbrella which the US had extended to Europe since WW2, and which now appears to be coming to an end.
All he’s doing, in fact, is spelling out the new reality, and why Europe’s political class are failing their populations. He’s absolutely right of course, and whilst the same could’ve been said of the American political class until Trump’s re-election, that’s the game-changer.
In fact, withdrawing the umbrella is the opposite of “using wealth to buy influence” – it’s stopping the funding whilst serving notice about Europe stepping up to the plate instead of focusing on maintaining their own elites. This can be settled via democracy or it can be settled via revolution.
Ive no problem with him telling Europe to pay more for their defence because America isn’t going to (although it’s the likes of Europe trading in US$ and buying American debt that allows them to run the deficits necessary to have such a large military in the first place), but I draw the line at seemingly actively endorsing one party over another in a domestic election.
I would rather have a politician state his beliefs publicly, than have USAID covertly fund a bunch of NGOs and “independent” media to work behind the scenes. The same politicians complaining about Vance are endlessly blathering about Orban and other foreign populists.
The word “seemingly” is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
What about EU openly interfering in Polish elections by withholding funds till “correct” government was elected?
The same goes for Hungary and Romanian presidential elections.
What about judicial activism of ECHR, recently meddling in Swiss referendum?
Ah right because the Eurocrat order hasn’t been actively working on behalf of Democrats since Obama’s Apology Tour. The Lecturers just took a lecture on “Democracy” and didn’t like it on bit.
Explain to me how you can believe in “Democracy” and that climate change is an existential and urgent GLOBAL threat to human existence. You literally have no choice but to silence opposition if that’s what you believe. If you silence opposition you can not have Democracy.
If you read my comment, I said that I felt Labour sending volunteers to assist Harris’ campaign and interfering in another nations domestic politics was also wrong, I criticised that so I’ll criticise Vance for doing the same even if I agree with large parts of what he’s saying.
I also made no mention of climate change. If you have to make up what I said in order to prove a point then that implies you don’t really have a point worth making
I don’t care that Labour endorsed Harris. Of course they did. If we’re going to do these multilateral alliances we might as well drop the pretense that certain people in certain countries aren’t dabbling in each other’s politics. Would you rather it be Covert or Overt…that’s the question.
This Euro Fabian wolf-in-sheeps clothing attitude where everybody is Passive-aggressive isn’t working. I’m an American Conservative. I am fully aware that the typical European intuition toward me and the people I vote for is disgust. That’s fine. I feel the same way. Let’s just lay it on the table and be real.
You do that. I argue with you but you’re not wishy-washy. Why do you have a problem with calling out the wishy-washy nonsense?
I think it was incredibly naive of Labour to allow their staff to involve themselves with the campaign knowing full well there was a good chance they’d have to deal with the other side after the election.
However personally I think a party helping like minded parties with strategy etc is not as bad as telling the voters of another country how to vote, as Musk does regularly. It’s a fine line between assistance and interference, and thats roughly where I draw it.
It also has the opposite effect to what is often intended. The only people happy with the yanks endorsing the AfD are those who were already likely to vote for them, most others who were on the fence are much more likely to do the opposite of what a foreigner tells them to do, Obama sticking his nose into the EU referendum being a prime example
No offence, but you’re drawing very arbitrary lines here. I totally agree that Vance and Trump are likely hurting the populist cause in Europe. However, I think Vance needed to say it. Europe and the EU are on the precipice of economic and social collapse. They need a wake-up call.
I agree they’re arbitrary lines, based on nothing but my own opinions. However my point about Vance and Musk sticking their nose in having the opposite effect to what they desire is more grounded in reality
Dude. We don’t care. There’s clearly an Anglophile Left-Center alliance that is going to oppose and resist everything Right-Center Americans say because there is a superiority complex. We realize that Europeans think they’re more refined and intelligent than us. That’s fine. You demand our taxpayer assistance to finance your defense. Either be respectful about it or we’ll put our money elsewhere. Yes we value you. we especially value the UK. Just stop being so disrespectful. That’s all we’re saying.
Europe demands nothing. It has been in America’s interest to keep Europe weakened and not become a strategic rival otherwise they wouldn’t have done it. It’s ensured the American defence industry has plenty of customers for its weapons, it’s ensured America has backing on the world stage with any disputes which in turn has helped ensure the dollars status as the reserve currency, which allows America to run tremendous deficits it otherwise couldn’t afford.
The danger for America is that by making the relationship entirely transactional they lose all influence with it. There’s now no reason for Europeans to side with America or buy American gear. If China offers better deals then Europe is now entirely justified in buying stuff from there, and trading in their own currencies.
It has undoubtedly been in the USAs interest to keep Europe “on side”, but that doesn’t mean “weakened”.
The problem is that Europe has taken the USA for granted, as frequently happens in such relationships, and many European leaders feel they can just say what they like about the USA.
Well they don’t like it when a US leader does it to them…
You really can’t put yourself in the shoes of an American can you. Who said the relationship is going to entirely transactional? I actually think it’s been entirely transactional and we’re requesting more of a friendship with shared responsibilities than a cold alliance of “shared values.”
If you’re going to be direct in scolding us why are we not afforded that right with you?
Well said, coming from an Englishman.
Vance took care to point out the hypocrisy in the Biden administration for not dealing with immigration honestly and for promoting censorship regarding the Covid vaccine. Vance did ‘dot his ‘I’s’ if you were listening carefully.
I will love to hear what not “clapping & appalled ” public in the room where VP JDV spoke yeasterday were saying at the dinner table with their families….
I’m puzzled by JD Vance’s speech. It was pretty provocative, like a verbal slap in the face. You could see the shock in the way the audience reacted.
Not the message — the message was not all that new or interesting — but the manner with which the message was delivered. JD Vance meant to insult, to threaten. And his speech did.
Why did JD Vance do that? What did he hope to accomplish? I don’t know. But I think he did more harm than good.
He lectured the lecturers about “Democracy.” These people are part of a censorship industrial complex walking around like Democracy defenders.
The same people he insulted have been interfering on behalf of Democrats in the US for years.
Why are you defending these tyrants so much these days?
Because Carlos actually considers his opinions rather than relying on blind ideological partisanship
I have no issue with Carlos. I just want to understand why he’s so surprised by what’s happening. Trump/Vance are doing exactly what they said they would do. (Didn’t downvote you either btw).
The incoming US administration is nothing if not brash, the European elite is nothing if not self-deluding. Vance’s abrasive technique achieved 2 possible outcomes: stopping the self-delusion and speaking over the heads of the elite to ensure the European populus know their leaders have been served time. Whilst it may not be successful in the former, it has clearly been successful in the latter. The accountability baton has been passed.
Would you agree that Vance is smarter than the European elite?
He’ll be more clever than some and more stupid than others would be my guess
Name people bro. I don’t get why you make claims without backing it up. Which Euro Politician is more impressive than Vance?
Funnily enough European politicians isn’t my specialist subject on Mastermind. However law of averages would suggest that Vance isn’t more intelligent than every European politician
I took as being deliberately provocative to get Europe to start thinking about things and pulling their socks up as it were. America is going to negotiate with Putin over your heads because it literally does not matter what you think because you have let yourselves grow that weak. I can come here and say this sort of thing and it literally does not matter how upset I make you. Come on guys, sort yourselves out!
Let’s be honest here, the endorsement of the creepy weirdo Vance is hardly going to be helpful anywhere in Europe where he and his ludicrous boss are rightly regarded with a mixture of horror and hilarity.
The real question is, why do they support a party that wants to return Germany to the 1930s?
Do you think you have a higher IQ than JD?
Possibly. Without knowing his IQ it’s impossible to say. He does seem reasonably intelligent I’ll grant you, much more so than Trump but that’s not a very high bar
“Reasonably intelligent.” Hahaha. Cmon man.
Reasonably intelligent seems a fair analysis. He certainly isn’t stupid but let’s not pretend he’s Einstein or Newton
Being the brains of an operation led by Donald Trump is very faint praise indeed…
Although, I’m sure Vance looks like a genius to the morons who worship a bozo like Trump. Is that what you’re getting at here T Dog?
Vance came from an extremely underprivileged background, then became a commissioned military officer, an Ivy League graduate, and an attorney in the financial sector. He’s certainly one of the smarter men in the Senate.
I’d say without hesitation he’s at least as intelligent as any haute bourgoise Eurocrat, and more likely their intellectual superior.
Didn’t say that, did I, old chap?
Vance is clearly intelligent. He obviously saw exactly what Trump would be like right from the start – “American Hitler” I believe was his phrase. Ironic given that Vance is now slithering up to the AfD Hitler tribute act.
No, Vance is smart. He’s also creepy as hell and has the moral fortitude of a particularly dishonest alley cat. He will say literally anything that Trump tells him to or that he thinks will score points with the boss.
However, Vance has very little influence. His speech was obnoxious, as you would expect, but Musk is calling the shots while Trump is busy sounding stupid on television and being mean to the AP because they won’t do what he tells them.
Ok. Well I mean…you’re an intentionally mean guy, right? Being a Bully is what you do. So why does that aspect of Trump bother you. I get your handle. I actually respect that you just acknowledge being a Champagne Socialist. You’re acknowledging that unfair hierarchies exist and you take advantage of it. So why would you dislike Trump?
A better question is half.
A firewall works in two ways. It prevents right wing views from being heard and represented politically.
It also protects mainstream views, in UK, Left wing views, from being criticised.
Unherd, does both. Consider the silence regarding what Tommy Robinson says, and the silence regarding the Chagos debacle, which protects Starmer-Hermer-Sands from criticism.
Unherd declares itself to be politically neutral in its Mission Statement. That is a lie.
Unherd is a lie.
I listened to Vance’s speech, carefully. He did NOT endorse the AfD, or any other group or party. He made the point that ignoring a party with a significant public following, and treating its supporters as being of no consequence in public debate, is undemocratic.
He’s right. It is undemocratic, stupid and leaves us weakened in the face of our external enemies.
Gosh, the German Foreign Ministry and German State Minister Anna Lührmann were all over the Trump-Kamala debates, ‘fact-checking’ and commenting and interfering in the election campaign.
Compare this speech by an American Vice-President and any speech by the former American Vice-President and shudder at the thought that German politicians were openly mocking Trump and wanted Kamala to win.
Re: German politicians mocking Trump and wanting Kamala to win…that went down as well as Obama mocking Trump at the National Press Club dinner, saying he could never be President. A funny thing though, Trump had noted all of this, but more importantly, ‘The People’ are observing it all as well.
Did anyone watch the immediate follow-up speech by the German Defence Minister? He directly addressed and criticised Vance’s speech in German, before giving his planned speech in English, clearly wanting the criticism to be heard in Germany.
The German Defense Minister is a fool…this is all telling and will continue to roll out. Germany is not in a good position.
Well, gosh and golly. He “directly addressed” JDV’s speech. That’s the spirit. Directly address!!!
What did he say?
Das ist unacceptable!
Where would these German politicians be without American and other foreign ‘interference’ that created the Basic Law?
Germany is now like someone with a burgeoning drinking problem to whom a good mate has given a shake by the shoulders and a wake-up call.
JD Vance and the US administration mean them well, but of course the messenger gets shot because they don’t want to hear it, the friend often behaves badly themselves, Germany’s doing just fine without interference, evil Americans blahblahblah…
The result is that the friend is off to sort their own issues out and Germany is left petulantly licking its wounds. Not a good look, regardless of how you feel about the US and their much more expansive understanding of freedom of speech.
The Great Deutsche Denial will continue. European denial too: the Swiss president dared to agree with Vance in certain points and it’s being described as a “small scandal”.
Dear, dear, dear. What an awful mess we are in. An just like an alcoholic, things can only get better once we admit en masse there’s a problem. And we clearly aren’t there yet.
I’m hoping for Merz to prevail and keep Pistorius as defense minister and Baerbock as foreign minister and that the new government can build public support for stronger defense and support for Ukraine. Big challenge. I hope they’re up to it.
Germany was once the world beater in STEM. It could be again. Investment in East Elbian universities with this in mind could shrink the wealth gap between east and west. So could more spending on defense and defense-related infrastructure. A powerful Bundeswehr at their backs would be welcome by NATO ‘s eastern most members. The Germans should be able to reign supreme over the battlespace from the Baltic to the Carpathians. They’ve done it before. This time it would be in a good cause. Now that the USA is turning its back on Europe, Germany needs to step up. The alternative is loss of sovereignty. As President Zelensky said the other day: If not Brussels, Moscow.
“This sort of talk might resonate with the AfD, but the majority of voters are more concerned about limiting irregular immigration and kickstarting the economy.”
Then the majority of voters are likely to shift toward if not actually TO AfD, as those are its exact priorities – in contrast to a supposed appetite for returning to fascism with which the Left consistently slanders it. As terrorists continue to drive into crowds of pedestrians, Europeans are waking up to the chaos their “moderate” and “center-right” leaders have created.
I don’t agree with the author of this piece. Vance’s comments about free speech were genuine and very welcome. He also spoke sensibly about immigration. Attempting to portray his remarks as divide and conquer make no sense. The centrist parties in Europe are completely under US control. They are already conquered. Vance snubbing Scholz and Merz was a bit rude but the Trump administration is very American. They are not going to hide their contempt for those who they believe (correctly, as it happens) deserve to be treated with contempt. The AfD will no doubt be kept out of the next German Government but not the next plus one. The firewall will crumble.
But you forget the paradoxical, stubborn nature of educated Euro-snobs who could be swayed to vote conservative, but who will sniff the aroma of American cowboyism, and vote liberal after all. Don’t be surprised if after Vance’s entirely reasonable speech, the cordon sanitaire is rebuilt throughout Europe.
“[Merz] will opt for the same middle-of-the-road grand coalition with the SPD that Germans experienced during the Merkel era”
In which case the Germans will get more of the same – industrial decline, mass immigration and more street killings. And they’ll deserve it.
A former lawyer who has bolstered his fortune by sitting on the boards of corporate giants such as BlackRock, Merz is confident he speaks the same language as Trump and can make deals which are beneficial for Germany and Europe.
—-
So, Merz thinks he is of one blood, Trump or Musk both made money the same way or the author of this article think that there is no difference between Merz and them