Topline
Elon Musk backed Germany’s far-right Alternative for Deutschland party, known as the AfD, in an opinion piece published in a German newspaper on Saturday, wading deeper into international politics as the billionaire has become a fixture in Trump’s orbit.
Elon Musk arrives on Capitol Hill on December 05, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna ... [+]
Key Facts
Musk disputed characterizations of the AfD as “right-wing extremist,” citing the fact that the party’s leader, Alice Weidel, is gay, writing “Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!”
Musk penned the opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper after writing on X last week that “only the AfD can save Germany,” sparking widespread backlash, with conservative writer and frequent Trump critic Bill Kristol accusing Musk of endorsing a “German neo-Nazi party.”
In the newspaper piece, Musk accused Germany’s traditional political parties of becoming “comfortable with mediocrity,” including economic decline, writing that “the AfD can save Germany from becoming a shadow of its former self.”
The Tesla founder—who has also expressed support for anti-immigrant political parties in the UK and Italy—said that he had the right to wade into German politics because he has business in the country, including a Tesla gigafactory factory in Brandenburg.
Commentary section editor Eva Marie Kogel resigned in protest after the piece was published, while the paper’s editor-in-chief designate, Philipp Bugard published a response that said “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally false.”
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classifies the AfD as suspected extremism and has the party under surveillance for the potential threats it poses.
Chief Critic
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told CNN last week Musk’s political opinions carry heavy weight given his proximity to Trump, warning “what Elon Musk thinks tends to eventually be what the president of the United States thinks. And if the United States takes an official position in favor of neo-Nazis in Germany, I mean, it is absolutely catastrophic.”
Tangent
Vice President-elect JD Vance has also expressed support for the AfD, responding sarcastically to posts on X criticizing the party’s hardline immigration stance as dangerous, writing on Dec. 21 “It’s so dangerous for people to control their borders. So so dangerous. The dangerous level is off the charts.”
Key Background
Musk penned the op-ed after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government collapsed earlier this month, prompting a snap election scheduled for Feb. 23. Musk’s piece was published in a newspaper owned by the Axel Springer media group, which also owns Politico. The AfD is sharply against immigration and has been accused of using Nazi and white supremacist rhetoric, including a campaign advertisement that showed a naked white woman being accosted by a dark-skinned man in an Arabic head scarf and urged Europeans to “vote for AfD, so that Europe will never become ‘Eurabia.’” Musk, who has become a fixture at Trump’s side since he won the November election and was appointed to head a newly created government efficiency department, has made numerous statements in support of the AfD on X recently, writing earlier this month that the party’s anti-immigration policies “sound reasonable” and questioning in June why the party is labeled far-right.
Further Reading
Elon Musk pens German newspaper opinion piece supporting far-right AfD party (The Guardian)
Elon Musk endorses far-right German political party, wading deeper into global politics (CNN)
Elon Musk backs AfD party in German newspaper opinion piece (Reuters)
