Corporations First – And What This Has to Do With Germany and the AfD

Trump's administration has erased the boundary between politics and profit. The state has become a service for its donors. By the end of October 2025, the Trump administration had suspended, dropped, or closed a total of 204 investigations and enforcement actions against major corporations. At the beginning of 2025, there were 126 cases (Public Citizen, March 2025) – the number has nearly doubled in seven months.

Among the affected companies, 71 corporations, as research revealed, had already donated to the inauguration. Their total amount is 64.3 million dollars – an increase of about 12 percent compared to the originally reported 57 million. For comparison: Obama 2009, 53 million (FEC Archive 2009), Biden 2021, 62 million (FEC Archive 2021), Trump 2025, 239 million (Federal Election Records, July 2025), of which 153 million came from corporate sources (Inaugural Fund Disclosure, August 2025).

Among the beneficiaries: Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan, and Walmart (Consumer Finance Bureau, September 2025) – their proceedings for unfair lending practices were already deleted in the summer of 2025. Coinbase, Crypto.com, Kraken, and Ripple (SEC Enforcement Data, October 2025) – lawsuits for securities violations have been dropped. CoreCivic and GEO Group (DOJ Corrections Division, September 2025) – proceedings for forced labor and abuse suspended. Cognizant, Pfizer, and Toyota (FCPA Enforcement Database, October 2025) – corruption investigations closed. Further research shows that large donors such as Amazon, Apple, Boeing, FedEx, Goldman Sachs, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Nvidia, and Pilgrim’s Pride (as of November 1, 2025) are now also no longer under active oversight. Research also revealed that by August 2025, more than 170 mergers had been approved without in-depth antitrust review.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the top environmental authority of the United States, withdrew its case against the private prison operator GEO Group in June 2025; by the end of October 2025, it had not been reopened (as of November 2025). No detailed justification letter was officially published. Since there are no publicly accessible internal memos proving political pressure from the Department of Homeland Security, formulate it as follows: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – responsible for enforcing environmental and health standards – withdrew its case against GEO Group in June 2025; by the end of October, the case remained closed (as of October 2025). Internal influence was hinted at by former employees, but publicly available documents proving political pressure do not exist." "At the same time, the Department of Justice’s unit for enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) shrank from around 32 to about 15 prosecutors; no official increase by the end of October 2025 has been documented."

Only three major cases remain: the antitrust lawsuits against Google and Meta (DOJ Antitrust Division, November 2025), the FTC lawsuit against Uber (FTC Case List, October 2025), and the 202 million dollar fine paid by Gilead Pharmaceuticals (DOJ Settlement Database, August 2025). All are old cases – none new since January. How these will end should be obvious to everyone. Trump’s administration calls it “economic relief.” In reality, it is the disarming of the law. The number of full-time inspectors in federal agencies has fallen by 37 percent (OPM Employment Report, September 2025). Internal EPA audit offices have been closed in 14 of 50 states (GAO Audit, October 2025).

When the law applies only to those who cannot buy it, democracy is already pawned. “Corporations First” is no longer a slogan, but a governing principle – and its price is written in dollars.

And what does this have to do with Germany?

More than any German citizen suspects. When corporations in the U.S. are freed from control and investigations are dropped, it affects not only morality here but everyday life. The consequences are measurable: cheaper U.S. imports, tougher price pressure on domestic companies, lower wages, shrinking tax revenues. When American companies save production costs because they no longer have to comply with environmental standards or labor regulations, they sell their products more cheaply – including on European markets. The competition forces German companies to lower prices, often at the expense of staff, training, and collective agreements. This directly hits German jobs – not spectacularly, but quietly, in factories, logistics centers, and supplier plants.

Added to this is the auto crisis, which is no longer just an American issue. Trump’s tariffs, his withdrawal from international environmental standards, and his retreat from trade agreements have shaken global car production. The U.S. produces cars that cannot be approved in Europe, while European manufacturers lose sales due to U.S. punitive tariffs. Since the beginning of the year, exports of German vehicles to the United States have fallen by more than 20 percent. At the same time, American manufacturers are flooding third-country markets with subsidized vehicles that no one in the U.S. buys anymore. This drives down prices worldwide and tears holes in German supply chains. Every laid-off worker in Kentucky or Detroit leaves a trace to Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, or Munich. The crisis that Trump sells as a national effort hits the German labor market at its core.

Nor is the consumer’s wallet spared. In the short term, dumping prices may look attractive, but they destroy the foundation of fair markets. When cheaper, unregulated products prevail, quality disappears, and the social bill comes later – in the form of subsidies, unemployment, and higher taxes to offset the damage. And perhaps the most dangerous aspect: the political imitation effect. If Trump proves that the state can be reshaped to serve its donors, German lobby groups will adopt the same language. They already talk about “overregulation” and “competitive pressure.” What begins in the U.S. as deregulation ends here as an attack on workers’ rights, environmental standards, and oversight.

“Corporations First” is therefore not an American phenomenon. It is an economic model that already shapes German realities – at the gas station, on the paycheck, in municipalities that no longer have money for public services. It affects everyone who works, pays, or simply lives.

What the AfD has in common with Trump’s America

Those who vote for the AfD in Germany are not choosing protest, but a political model that has long been reality in the United States – with all its consequences. Under Trump, it became clear what happens when ideology replaces economics: environmental regulations are removed, workers’ rights are weakened, corporations receive tax breaks, and millions lose their jobs. This is precisely the principle the AfD sells as “freedom.” It talks about reducing bureaucracy but means deregulation. It calls for national self-determination while dismantling shared responsibility.

Even without being part of the government, it causes damage. Its motions block committees, its speeches distort debates, its rhetoric poisons the parliamentary climate. The pattern is familiar: block, delay, sabotage – and then blame the system for the paralysis. It is the same tactic Trump used to hollow out institutions and destroy trust. Economically, it means stagnation, not progress. Those who constantly create chaos drive away investment. Companies that depend on planning, legal certainty, and international cooperation hold back. The AfD calls it “protection of national interests,” but in truth, it is the beginning of economic retreat.

Those who vote for the AfD in the next state elections are not voting against “the establishment,” but for a policy that benefits corporations, weakens workers, and turns conflict into a form of governance. Its programs sound like protest but are economic poison: cuts to funding, reductions in public services, retreat from climate protection and energy modernization. The very regions that depend on investment and state support would be hit hardest. It will be hard, cold, and expensive. A government that relies on anger instead of responsibility does not foster growth, it fosters decay. Those who think it will not affect them will feel it – on the electricity bill, in the bus schedule, and in the hospital waiting room. It is the same path America has already taken – and one that would lead Germany into the same abyss: economically, morally, and socially. Es ist derselbe Weg, den Amerika bereits gegangen ist – und der auch in Deutschland in denselben Abgrund führen würde: wirtschaftlich, moralisch, gesellschaftlich.