Germany is on the Brink of National Suicide

What was once Europe’s economic powerhouse is now unraveling under green delusions, open borders, and paralyzing deindustrialization.

Victor Davis Hanson opened with a warning—and it wasn’t subtle.

This week, Germany’s only major right-wing opposition party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), was officially labeled an “extremist” group by the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV.

The designation sent shockwaves through the political landscape.

AfD immediately challenged it in court, prompting the agency to suspend enforcement while litigation proceeds.

But the damage, Hanson said, has already been done.

This move, he argued, wasn’t about public safety—it was about political control.

“Recently, the German government announced that it is going to label or maybe relabel the Alternative for Deutschland,” Hanson explained.

“The conservative party that has an antithetical agenda both to the German government of both liberal and conservative factions, but also to the EU in general.”

He said the classification ensures AfD will remain on the outside of political power, regardless of how many people support them.

“It will cement this aura that no government under their parliamentary democracy system will ask them to join to form a majority government,” Hanson said.

“So the process of ostracism and demonization of this party continues.”

And for what? The real issue, he said, is that AfD simply offers a different vision.

“The party is advocating an alternative for the way that Germany is going.”

So where is Germany going?

Hanson painted a bleak picture—of economic decline, energy failure, and political denial.

“If you look at what has become of Germany,” he said, “it has had two years of essentially no growth or negative growth.”

He noted the country finally reached its long-delayed NATO defense spending goal, pledging 2% of GDP—something it was supposed to do back in 2014.

But the milestone felt more like a bare-minimum box-check than a serious turning point.

“It just barely did it,” Hanson said.

Meanwhile, Germany has doubled down on green energy while dismantling its nuclear infrastructure, despite the country’s climate not being suited for solar reliance.

The results have been catastrophic.

German electricity costs are now roughly four times higher than those in the United States.

And that’s not just hitting households—it’s pushing away manufacturers and investors who can no longer justify doing business in the country.

“You can see what that’s going to do to German investment,” Hanson warned.

The problems aren’t limited to energy and economics.

Hanson pointed to a deeper crisis—one that strikes at the heart of Germany’s identity.

Open borders and mass migration, largely from the Middle East, has dramatically reshaped the population.

And according to Hanson, the consequences are both cultural and existential.

He estimated that 16 to 18 percent of Germany’s population wasn’t born in the country and has not assimilated.

“These are refugees—or I don’t think they’re refugees,” he said.

“They’re illegal immigrants from the volatile Middle East. Most of them are Muslim. Most of them do not have an intention of assimilating, intermarrying, and integrating fully in German society.”

The government’s refusal to address this, he said, has allowed a demographic transformation to unfold without public debate or accountability.

And that’s a far cry from the Germany that once held Europe together.

“For years, Germany was the powerhouse, the cohesive economic power that kept the EU together,” Hanson recalled. “It’s very tragic.”

Even the German military—a former pillar of NATO—is now little more than a shell.

“During the Cold War, it fielded one of the best NATO armies… well over 400,000 troops,” he said.

“It’s almost literally disarmed.”

In a functioning democracy, Hanson argued, this kind of failure would trigger a national reckoning.

There would be debate. Conflict. Reform. Politicians and citizens would argue over energy, borders, military policy, and economic growth. They’d hash it out—then find consensus.

Germany would close its borders. Demand full assimilation. Return to reliable energy. And reassert itself on the global stage.

That’s what you’d expect in a healthy system.

But instead of debating those solutions, the one party calling for them is silenced.

“They would do all of that,” Hanson said. “But instead, when one party is advocating much of what I just talked about, they demonize it because it’s out of the norm.”

Then came the most chilling line of all:

“And the norm, unfortunately in Germany today, is national suicide.”

For Hanson, this isn’t just a German issue.

The collapse of a once-great Western democracy—economically, militarily, and culturally—will have ripple effects far beyond Europe.

“Unfortunately, this is not going to end well for Germany,” he concluded.

“And it’s not going to end well for us. We need a powerful, friendly Germany and we wish it well.”

“But the reaction to needed reform—economic, political, social, cultural, military, diplomatic—is not to essentially ban a political party’s freedom of expression. That shows weakness and fear rather than confidence in the future.”