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Elon Musk has entered the German election campaign by supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany party, marking the American billionaire businessman's latest foray into politics around the world.
MuskOn Friday, an advisor close to Donald Trump reposted a video of a right-wing German activist, adding: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD, responded: “Yes! You are absolutely right.”
the Alternative for Germany partyThe “German” organization, which is classified by German domestic intelligence as an extremist organization, is preparing to make significant electoral gains in the elections scheduled for February 23. The vote, sparked by the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition last month, comes at a time when Europe's largest economy is under intense pressure.
Opinion polls indicate The Alternative for Germany party is expected to win about 19 percent of the votes, lagging behind the Christian Democrats led by Friedrich Merz, who is expected to win about 30 percent.
Musk has used X to express his political views and amplify right-wing voices. Since purchasing the platform in 2022, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX has criticized liberal leaders in countries including the UK, Brazil and Australia, while expressing support for populist leaders such as Argentina's Javier Miley.
After recently meeting with Musk in Florida, Nigel Farage said on Tuesday that the billionaire is seriously considering making a donation to the UK's Reform Party.
Germany has been a frequent target of Musk's statements: he mocked former Chancellor Angela Merkel neglected Social Democratic candidate Schulz. But he has shown interest in AfD politicians such as Björn Höcke, the controversial nationalist who led the party to victory in elections in the eastern state of Thuringia in September.
On Friday, Musk retweeted a video of Naomi Seibt, a 24-year-old climate change skeptic and self-dubbed “anti-Greta Thunberg,” who criticizes Merz for ruling out a coalition with the AfD.
A spokesman for Merz declined to comment. A government spokesman said they “took note.”
Despite Musk's support, the AfD remains unlikely to come to power in Germany, as all other parties have said they will not work with him. The party was founded in 2013 amid the eurozone debt crisis, and has since evolved into a hardline nationalist, anti-immigration movement calling for Germany to leave the European Union.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified its branches in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt as “extremist right-wing”.
Some of its politicians have sparked controversy. Hockey was fined €30,000 this year by two different courts for using banned Nazi slogans. In 2017, he described the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a “monument to shame.”
in interview In an interview with the Financial Times in May, Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament from the Alternative for Germany party, said of the SS, the group that ran Adolf Hitler's extermination camps: “Before I call anyone a criminal, I would really like to To know what he personally did.”
Additional reporting by Laura Bittle and Jay Chazan
