The paper's opinion editor resigned in protest after South African-American billionaire Elon Musk promoted Alternative Fur Germany (AfD) in clear terms in a newspaper column.
Germany is on the verge of collapse due to the failure of its traditional political parties, writes Elon Musk in an op-ed in the Sunday edition of a historic national newspaper. die welt. His diagnosis of Germany's problems included proposing a solution: voting for the right-wing sovereigntist AfD.
Traditional media and mainstream German political opinion consider the AfD to be extreme, if not outright dangerous. Efforts have been made to ban the party, and some of its members are being investigated by Germany's political police. Still, Musk interjected, calling on German voters to judge the party's policies.
Further he wrote: “Even though the AfD is described as far-right, it represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment… It is clearly false to portray that party leader Alice Weidel has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler?
Mr. Musk owns Tesla's main factory in Germany, and his arguments often focus on matters that intersect with those interests, such as Germany's economy and energy policy. But he also touched on border control, Germany's hottest topic, and the area where the AfD most strongly differentiates itself from other parties. He writes that immigration policy is “not about xenophobia, but about ensuring that Germany does not lose its identity in the pursuit of globalization.” For a nation to remain strong and united, it must preserve its core values and cultural heritage. ”
Mr. Musk's editorial was as follows. published in parallel Jan-Philippe Bourgaard, the incoming Welt editor-in-chief who will take up the role on January 1, countered that while Musk is perceptive and correct in diagnosing Germany's problems, his views are still wrong. He expressed his opinion that there is. He argued that this solution was “fatally wrong” in supporting AfD.
Burgaard went on to criticize the AfD for wanting to challenge the status quo and for having views that differ from mainstream Berlin. The mainstream, which created all the problems Germany is currently experiencing, can definitely be trusted to solve them, the paper's chief argued, echoing Musk. “Even geniuses can make mistakes.”
There were other even stronger reactions from staff. die welt In the paper that carried the article about Mr. Musk. In fact, the magazine's opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, contacted X/Twitter directly and announced that she was resigning over the matter.
If Musk's comments have any impact on German politics, it could be an existential issue for traditional political parties that have spent years carefully crafting their policies. cordon sanitary equipment They are trying to keep the fledgling AfD out of power. Similar initiatives have been implemented in many other European countries, with varying degrees of success.
The intervention follows similar involvement in British politics in recent weeks, with Musk expressing at least tacit support for Nigel Farage's Reform Britain, which is soaring in the polls. This has been met with derision in Britain, and the same is clearly being felt in Berlin. Friedrich Merz of the centre-right CDU, who is likely to become Germany's next chancellor, criticized the move as “intrusive and arrogant”.
Germany is currently headed for a snap election after the breakaway Progressive Alliance collapsed in November, when President Trump's second term was announced to the world. According to then-Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, these events were not unrelated.
If current opinion polls are reflected in February's vote, the AfD is expected to double its number of seats in parliament and become the second largest party after the CDU. But with two months until the event and new terrorist attacks on German Christmas markets making headlines, nothing has been decided yet.
