It is an impressively Conservative manifesto, and doubly impressive for Europe.
One problem - Frauke Petry, the chairperson of AfD, and a lead author and editor of the manifesto, decided to quit the AfD this morning.
Now, perhaps Merkel offered Petry a leadership role of some kind, or there are other reasonable explanations.
Nonetheless, the political optics of her resignation are shocking.
Still, the weight of the evidence supports your original argument, and you have persuaded me that AfD is not a Socialist party by any definition.
About Petry - from what I’ve heard, she is simply a narcissist (a.k.a. psycho bitch) and could not stand that two other candidates were chosen to lead. No need for any conspiracy theory.