tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is also an advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, has announced his support for Mr. X of Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Attempting to influence German elections.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote in a post Thursday night.
Musk, who has more than 200 million followers on the site he owns, made the comment while sharing a post by far-right influencer Naomi Seipt, saying that he was “likely to be Germany’s next chancellor, Friedrich Merz.” The CDU is horrified by this idea.” Germany should follow the example of Elon Musk and Javier Millei,” he said, referring to the Argentine president.
The Guardian previously reported that Seibt has a history of promoting white supremacist ideology and the legitimacy of the scientific consensus on climate change, which says climate change is caused by fossil fuel emissions. It denies the validity of that claim.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), in a post on is.
“The AfD’s mission is to repair the image of the Nazi movement,” Murphy wrote. It added that one party leader wore a license plate showing “blatant tribute to Hitler” and another “described Judaism as Germany’s ‘inner enemy'”.
Musk and Tesla’s investor relations team did not respond to requests for comment.
On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (of the centre-left Social Democratic Party) dismissed Musk’s claim that only far-right parties “can save Germany”.
Under Scholz’s leadership, Germany’s left-wing coalition collapsed in November, and the AfD is currently in second place in opinion polls ahead of February’s general elections. Across Germany, where the AfD holds high positions in state elections, other parties generally refuse to form coalitions with it.
According to Pew Research, “AfD has campaigned against arms deliveries to Ukraine and called for an end to sanctions against Russia,” echoing Musk.
Far-right parties are also gaining strength in countries such as the Netherlands, Austria and Finland. Many people cheered Trump’s election as Musk helped fund his campaign and related Republican causes through $277 million in donations.
Tesla stock has risen about 75% since Trump’s victory, surpassing its all-time high since 2021 set last week.
The AfD has reportedly criticized Tesla and its factory outside Berlin. The party argued that many of Tesla’s thousands of employees commute from Poland and Berlin, limiting economic benefits to local communities in Brandenburg.
The AfD generally considers electric cars to be part of an ideological climate change movement and unfavorable to Germany’s car industry.
Europe has been a tough market for Tesla this year. Sales of Tesla cars fell 40.9% in November, outpacing a 9.5% decline in overall sales of battery electric vehicles, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Elsewhere at Europre, Mr Musk backed right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and in the UK he expressed support for populist politician and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. In South America, Mr. Musk supports and has a friendly relationship with Argentina’s President Millei, who calls himself an anarcho-capitalist.
A driver crashed his car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, killing people and injuring dozens of others.
In response to a post by X showing Prime Minister Scholz attending a press conference after the incident, Musk wrote, “Prime Minister Scholz should resign immediately. He is an incompetent idiot.”
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