American tech billionaire Elon Musk has written an opinion article in the German weekly magazine Welt am Sonntag expressed his support for the right-wing radical party Alternative for Germany (AfD). In the article, which the newspaper published online on Saturday, he calls the party “the last ray of hope for this country.”
Musk recently expressed his preference for the party on his own social media channel X, where he wrote that “only the AfD can save Germany.” He called Olaf Scholz, outgoing Chancellor and candidate for the Social Democrats again in the upcoming elections, an “incompetent idiot.”
In the article Musk explains why he believes Germany is teetering on the brink of an “economic and cultural collapse.” According to him, the “portrayal of the AfD as far-right” cannot be correct since party leader Alice Weidel “has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you?” he writes.
The German newspaper’s consideration of publishing Musk’s piece met with a lot of internal resistance. An opinion editor served shortly after the article appeared online her resignation. She does not agree that Musk “is given a platform to make an election call for a party that is partly far-right and anti-Semitic.”
In an accompanying text to the article, editor-in-chief Jan Philipp Burgard agrees with Musk’s economic and cultural analysis, but rejects the argument that the AfD is the right answer. He calls the AfD a “threat to our values” and refers to AfD leader Björn Höcke, who was convicted for using a Nazi slogan.
European politics
Musk was one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in the US presidential elections in November. He donated a total of more than $250 million during the campaign, for which he was rewarded with an informal ministerial post. Since Trump’s victory, Musk has become increasingly involved in European politics.
Germany will go to the polls for the Bundestag elections on February 23, after the cabinet fell in November. The AfD is in second place in the opinion polls with around 19 percent, behind the CDU/CSU combination. All parties represented in the Bundestag currently rule out cooperation with the AfD.
Not only Germany is interested in Musk. Earlier this month, he spoke with British politician Nigel Farage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida about a possible donation to his Reform party. Musk, one of the richest people in the world, is said to be “fully” behind his party, according to Farage.
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