Photo courtesy of Anadolu
US President Donald Trump has openly celebrated the Alternative for Germany’s record performance in Saxony-Anhalt, pointing to immigration as the driving force behind the right-wing party’s growing electoral strength.
“Wow! The Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social, referring to the AfD’s result in Sunday’s state election.
Trump argued that German voters had grown frustrated with the country’s immigration policies, declaring that the party was “ON THE RISE” and ending his message with “MGGA,” short for “Make Germany Great Again.”
The AfD captured 43.8 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, its best result in a German state election. The showing marked a major advance for a party that has built particularly strong support in eastern Germany.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, meanwhile, received 17.2 percent, leaving a wide gap between the AfD and the party that previously led the state government.
Despite the AfD’s electoral gains, converting its support into governing power remains difficult. Germany’s established parties have maintained a political “firewall” against forming governing coalitions with the party.
The AfD has also faced sustained scrutiny from German security authorities. Saxony-Anhalt’s domestic intelligence agency classified the party’s state organization as a confirmed right-wing extremist entity in 2023, citing positions it said conflicted with principles of Germany’s democratic constitutional system.
Trump’s intervention puts renewed international attention on the AfD’s rise and Germany’s increasingly fragmented political landscape, while adding the US president’s voice to an already contentious domestic debate over immigration and the boundaries of cooperation with the party.