The American Right's Spin of the AfD

https://americanreformer.org/2024/12/what-is-happening-in-germany/

This article typifies the misunderstanding on the part of the American Right with regard to the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, its values, and its political platform.

Winter presents the AfD as a counter to the 'globalist/liberal hegemony'. He does not define globalist - many would associate the term with multi-national capitalism and as far as 'liberal' - does he mean left-wing identitarian politics or is he referring to liberal in the classical sense with reference to free speech, human rights, rule of law, democracy, and the other package of ideas that emerged with the Enlightenment?

The United States is part of the Liberal heritage. Liberalism also produced capitalism which in a multi-national context turns into a form of oligarchy that some associate with globalism. He doesn't define any of his terms.

The AfD stands for anti-immigration, nationalism, and historical revisionism. Some are affiliated with anti-immigrant violence as seen with groups like Pegida. Others have been demonstrably tied to Neo-Nazi organisations and others use Nazi slogans and want the history of the Third Reich and Holocaust suppressed or re-cast. They are not merely conservatives. Neither were the Nazis. They were Right-wing to be sure - but that's not the same as conservative. This is important to understand.

The fascist parties in Europe would win over many conservatives but not all of them. The old German aristocracy and much of the conservative Church despised Hitler and yet he was combatting communism and reinvigorating the economy. For many of the Christians, patriotism and nationalism were confused with Christian virtue and thus they were easily led astray. The same is no less true today in the United States.

Re-migration is a euphemism for expulsion. Let's not mince words. For the new generation of European fascists, the Muslims are the scapegoats, the virus, the problem to which they seek a solution. I have long expected Europe to lash out against its Islamic populations. I expect lost people to fall into nationalism and to make idols of their Babel-kingdoms. The rise of these parties does not surprise me but one would think Christians wouldn't fall prey to this. And if they thought like Christians they wouldn't. They'd be able to step back and look at the whole situation with a little circumspection, historical reflection, and Biblical wisdom. You're not going to find that at the American Reformer or in their myopic fantasy paradigms about 'negative worlds'.

The great irony is the fact that Merkel's embrace of immigrants and refugees in 2015 created an opportunity for the AfD and their current challenge to the Christian Democrats and Socialist Party. And yet the crisis was in no small part generated by the US-led Atlantic Empire and its wars and policies throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Eurasia. The whole episode and the hatred and scorn poured on these people is pretty sickening. The same is true with regard to the immigrants from Latin America in the United States. And who can doubt that immigration has been used as a vehicle to stir Right-wing animus?

Winter also ignores that all too often these terrorists are known to the intelligence agencies. A lot of the stories don't quite add up and the timing is often suspicious - the latest episode (February 2025) also proves convenient for the AfD and the snap election.

And why does Winter reject globalism? Is he against capitalism? I highly doubt it. He's opposed to multi-culturalism? Fine, it depends on what is meant by it. But if he means to oppose it on the basis of nationalism - he needs to repent and check his loyalties. Nationalism has no place in Christian ethics or thinking.

Is it Christendom he's thinking of? If so, then he needs to learn how to read history in light of the New Testament. Christendom is a false construct and always has been. It only produces a counterfeit Kingdom that has led to false doctrine, idolatry, and horrors such as the Crusades and Inquisition - some of these things are unfortunately celebrated by today's Protestants. The United States for all its flaws and the wickedness of its revolution represented a break from Christendom - one of the only positive outcomes of its sedition.

I was frankly appalled to see him make an appeal for the AfD and support this by linking to Steve Bannon who is literally a fascist. Trump is too but Bannon, Stephen Miller and some of the people around Trump are on the basis of principle.

And that's what is so troubling about all this. The American public has never understood World War II or fascism. For the American Right, they wrongly associate this ultra-nationalist movement with Leftist politics and thus are completely blind to its true identity - let alone the history of the GOP during the Cold War and its collaboration with fascist emigres from Europe and outright Nazis. The ideology has crept into their midst and yet they cannot see it. It's a tragic and deeply troubling situation. And so here we are in 2025 with Christians promoting the vomit of fascism in both America and Germany. And though some are reeling in shock and confusion, it makes perfect sense to me that forms of open pro-Hitlerian revisionism are setting up shop within Reformed circles. You could see that coming almost twenty years ago.

The American Reformer is the platform. What America do they envision? It's not the one the Founders (flawed as they were) sought to create or the one represented in the Constitution. Reformer? Do they think they represent the thoughts of the Magisterial Reformers? Think again. The Neo-Calvinist/Dominionist impetus of their project is an expression of syncretism at best. Like Kuyper they may denounce the Enlightenment but they cannot escape it as they are addicted to the mammon-world it has created and the possibilities of power. They are similar to the Magisterial Reformers in that they too sought to reform the Babel of their day by placing a cross on top of its cursed tower. It failed and so will the efforts of the so-called American Reformer.

The thought of this man teaching high school is sickening and what an indictment of Hillsdale College that a man awarded a PhD in politics from their institution would produce this kind of muddled un-Christian thinking, misinformation and error. Christians have no business supporting the AfD or Donald Trump for that matter. 

We are pilgrims and strangers. We are called to take up the cross and bear witness. We proclaim life in the face of doom and curse. There is no gospel for America or Germany. You cannot baptize a nation, nor can the Spirit indwell a nation. Germany cannot be in union with Christ. The United States cannot be adopted into the household of God. When Winter and others speak of 'Christian' nations they are literally redefining the gospel and what the term Christian means. The New Testament condemns this in unequivocal terms.

They are nations born of this present evil age. We call people out of them and out of the false churches that enter into Faustian bargains with them. They would reform America and Germany. The end of their efforts would only result in one thing - the Bride of Christ would become a Whore and since Germany and America are but aspects of the Dragon, the reform would be (at best) an attempt to clean up Mystery Babylon and make it attractive.