Fortunately for Germany’s other political parties, the irrepressible instinct of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is to act as a kind of self-sabotaging communications machine. It keeps making mistakes that France’s hard-right Rassemblement National, which is very disciplined in its political messaging, is most unlikely to commit. The art of insulting voters Just consider the latest outburst by Björn Höcke, the demagogic leader of the German hard-right party’s ethno-nationalist wing.