Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) Backed by Billionaire Elon Musk
Billionaire Elon Musk, known for his polarizing comments on social media, has thrown his support behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a guest opinion piece published in Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper. The party has been classified as a suspected extremism case by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency since 2021.
In his commentary, Musk claimed that the portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is “clearly false” and cited examples, including the party’s leader, Alice Weidel, having a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka. However, this has not swayed the editor of the opinion section, Eva Marie Kogel, who has resigned in protest.
Despite his criticism of the piece, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief designate, Jan Philipp Burgard, and publisher Ulf Poschardt believe that the publication of the commentary is important for democracy and journalism, as it allows for the discussion of polarizing views. They published a response from Burgard, calling out Musk’s solution as “fatally false”, as the AfD’s desire to leave the European Union and align with Russia and China is not a viable solution.
Musk’s backing of the AfD comes as Germany is set to hold federal elections on February 23rd, after the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed. Despite being second in opinion polls, the AfD may be able to thwart the formation of a majority government by blocking a center-right or center-left coalition. However, Germany’s mainstream parties have pledged to shun any support from the AfD at the national level.