Elon Musk, co-leader of Germany's far-right party Alternative for Germany, reiterates his claim that “only the AfD can save Germany” in a live talk on the controversial social media platform X. , praised the party leader.
Thursday's virtual meeting between Musk and Alice Weidell comes after the American billionaire has vocally supported far-right and anti-establishment parties across Europe and accused him of meddling in Germany's Feb. 23 general election. This was carried out amidst growing criticism.
In a sometimes wooden, sometimes flippant conversation, Musk praised the anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin AfD, which ranks second in opinion polls with 21.5% behind the conservative CDU/CSU. Throughout the meeting, he mispronounced the party leader's name as “Wiedel.”
The roughly 75-minute meeting covered everything from energy policy and education to the two countries' shared desire to break through Germany's bureaucracy and stop illegal immigration. Douglas Adams, Schopenhauer, the meaning of life, whether Adolf Hitler was a socialist or a far-right extremist, and how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were also thoroughly examined.
Musk and Weidel seem to dismiss the “woke” sentiment and agree on everything, including the need to end the war in Ukraine, with Musk saying, “President Trump will resolve this conflict very quickly. ' he claimed.
When pressed about “by what means” this could happen, Musk seemed a little dismayed. “Let me be clear: this is up to President Trump. He is the commander in chief…I don't want to speak for him…but we need strong American leadership to get it done.”
Asked by Weidel when he would be ready for a manned Mars expedition, Musk said he expected to send an unmanned spacecraft to Mars in about two years and a manned spacecraft to Mars in about four years. He said he expected that.
He said his goal is to enable “Martians” to rescue Earthlings “in an emergency, just as America rescued Europe in World War II.”
After Musk uses Douglas Adams to explain her life philosophy (“The question is more important than the answer”), Weidel concludes the conversation by telling her about his struggle with Schopenhauer as a teenager. Ta.
Musk has regularly commented on German politics since last month endorsing the AfD, which is classified as a right-wing extremist group by German intelligence services.
He called President Frank-Walter Steinmeier a “tyrant” for criticizing the AfD and called for Prime Minister Olaf Scholz to resign after a car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg left six people dead. said.
Last week, he wrote an op-ed in World Newspapers in which he appeared to legitimize AfD's politics and said it was wrong to label the party as far-right.
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Mr. Weidell and other party leaders appeared emboldened by Mr. Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election in November. Analysts said Mr. Musk's support for the party appears to have further emboldened the AfD and could increase its support among German voters.
Ahead of Thursday's consultation on XSpace, the European Commission said it would scrutinize whether the consultation could violate the Digital Services Act (DSA). A DSA spokesperson said they did not object to the discussion itself, but were instead interested in speculation that X might be showing favoritism toward certain types of subjects.
Lobby Control, a pressure group seeking greater transparency in European politics, said it was specifically examining the discussion to see if it violated German campaign finance regulations, suggesting it could be considered political advertising. .
Recent heightened tensions over Musk's alleged meddling in German politics have prompted Germany's lower house of parliament to investigate whether digital debates are considered illegal.
A spokesperson for Mr. Weidel denied the charges, saying the meeting did not constitute an illegal political donation, was a legitimate expression of free speech, and was not staged.
Germany's Federal Network Agency said it would monitor algorithms on the platform for manipulation before, during and after discussions and pass any relevant information to the DSA.
