Trump’s
plan to bolster Europe’s nationalists is already underway
The U.S.
administration vowed in its recent National Security Strategy to boost
“patriotic European parties” to the detriment of the EU.
December
15, 2025 5:47 pm CET
By James
Angelos and Joshua Berlinger
BERLIN —
U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to restore “European greatness” by
bolstering the continent’s nationalist parties is already being put into
action.
Trump
administration officials and European far-right leaders from Paris to
Washington have taken part in a flurry of meetings in the days since the
release of the U.S. National Security Strategy, underscoring that the U.S.
president’s desire to bolster “patriotic European parties” is not an abstract
vision but rather a manual for change that is being pursued from the ground up.
Last
week, U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers met with far-right Alternative
for Germany (AfD) party politician Markus Frohnmaier in Washington. Frohnmaier
said the two discussed the recently released National Security Strategy, which
asserted that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” due to migration and the
loss of national identity, a message that AfD politicians embrace.
“Washington
is looking for a strong German partner who is willing to take on
responsibility,” Frohnmaier wrote in an online post following the meeting.
“Germany should re-establish itself as a capable leading power through a
decisive shift in migration policy and the independent organization of European
security.”
Frohnmaier
was one of about 20 AfD politicians who travelled to Washington and New York
last week to meet with sympathizers and Trump administration officials. AfD
leaders have increasingly sought to forge links with MAGA Republicans, viewing
the Trump administration’s backing as a way to secure domestic legitimacy and
end their political ostracization.
Frohnmaier,
the deputy chair of the AfD’s parliamentary group, was also an “honored guest”
at the annual gala of the the New York Young Republican Club on Saturday. The
New York City-based group has openly backed the AfD, declaring “AfD über alles”
(AfD above all) — an adaptation of a nationalist phrase associated with
Germany’s Nazi past.
“The
alliance between American and German patriots is the nightmare of the liberal
elites, and it is the hope of the free world,” Frohnmaier said in a speech
during the event.
The
recent meetings are a continuation of ongoing outreach efforts between Trump’s
“Make America Great Again” movement and ideologically aligned European parties.
British Reform leader Nigel Farage, a longtime Trump ally, stopped off at the
Oval Office during a U.S. visit in September. In November Trump political
adviser Alex Brusewitz met with AfD leaders in Berlin, where he proclaimed that
the MAGA movement in the U.S. had common cause with the German party.
Trump has
also long expressed support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, although
he told POLITICO’s Dasha Burns in an interview last week for a special edition
of “The Conversation” that he had not promised an Argentina-style bailout to
boost Orbán’s election chances next year.
In Paris,
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner met with French far-right leaders
Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella days after the publication of the Trump
administration’s National Security Strategy. Kushner said he “appreciated the
chance” to learn about the far-right leaders’ “economic and social agenda and
their views on what lies ahead for France.”
As the
father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and diplomatic adviser, the elder
Kushner has a direct line to the White House. In his POLITICO interview last
week Trump said he could move to endorse political candidates aligned with his
own vision for Europe.
Kushner
has also met the heads of at least two other French parties in recent weeks,
but a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in France suggested the meetings
weren’t part of a coordinated effort to support the far right in Europe: “As a
matter of standard practice, the U.S. Mission in France engages regularly with
a broad range of political parties and leaders, and we will continue to do so.”
Yet
unlike Germany’s AfD leaders, Le Pen and Bardella — as well as other
politicians in their far-right National Rally — have been reluctant to fully
embrace Trump given his unpopularity in France, even among many members of
their own party.
As for
the AfD, its outreach to willing partners in the U.S. is set to continue.
Frohnmaier said he would invite U.S. lawmakers to a Berlin congress in February
aimed at deepening ties with MAGA Republicans.
Pauline
von Pezold contributed to this report.
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