Alice Weidel, the candidate for Alternative Chancellor for Germany from the Alternative for Germany (AFD) party, presents herself as a bourgeois woman with a classic sense of style, often wearing her hair collected, a classic blouse, and a pearl necklace. However, in recent months, her demeanor has taken a drastic turn, revealing a more radical core to her party. Her gestures, expressions, and tone of voice have become increasingly aggressive during the campaign, and she has even incorporated terms like “remigration” into her vocabulary – a word previously used only in extreme right-wing circles. But who is the real Alice Weidel? Undoubtedly, she is one of the most enigmatic and contradictory politicians.
Weidel’s radical tone is not new; in her book “Widerworte,” she describes how her partner encouraged her to pursue a career in politics, saying, “Don’t just rant, do something.” This prompted the economist to join the AFD due to its critical stance on the euro, and she stayed with the party even as it became more radical and many moderate members abandoned it. She quickly realized that there could be a career to be had, and her appearance and tone would be well received. As a party leader, she has pledged to make the AFD seem more professional and elegant, but the formation has become more radical, which has been well received by certain segments that feel emboldened by good surveys and a booming trend – just look at Austria or the United States under Trump.
Weidel’s primary objective and personal plan are to participate in the government in 2029. Although they currently have no chance of success, she trusts that the sanitary cordon against her party will eventually break, and she can become chancellor one day. She likes to introduce herself as a disciplined and ambitious woman who gets up early and works hard, which has made her popular among the party’s base. However, her lifestyle has little in common with what she defends in her program, which is the paradox that is Alice Weidel. As the leader and face of the AFD, she lives with her family in Switzerland, despite her party promoting a traditional family image of father, mother, and son. Additionally, she is a lesbian with two children with a woman, and her partner was born in Sri Lanka, which contradicts the AFD’s classroomed right-wing extremist ideology and racist statements.
In many ways, Weidel’s private life seems like an antithesis to the trajectory of her formation. When asked about these contradictions, Weidel downplays their importance, emphasizing that she is proud to be married to a woman but is not “queer.” She uses her condition to argue that her party cannot be discriminatory, showcasing her ambitious opportunism and the AFD as the perfect place to develop her career. This enigmatic figure continues to fascinate and raise questions about the true nature of her party and her own identity.