The German government has accused Elon Musk of trying to interfere in the country's election campaign after repeating his support for the far-right party AfD.
“It is true that Mr. Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,'' government spokesperson Christian Hoffman said. '' after an opinion piece supporting the issue was published over the weekend.
He said at a regular media briefing that Musk has the right to free speech, adding: “At the end of the day, freedom of opinion includes the biggest nonsense.”
Musk has often commented on German politics, even calling Prime Minister Olaf Scholz a “bad guy.” “fool” he said on his social media platform X last month. But his recent public call for German voters to support the AfD, which federal authorities classify as a suspected extremist party, has sparked outrage and posed a challenge to Europe's top economy. This led to accusations of gross interference.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” the South African-born entrepreneur, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to co-lead a commission aimed at downsizing the US federal government, wrote in X earlier this month.
In the post, he shared a video of German right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt criticizing Friedrich Merz, the conservative front-runner in Germany's general election, and criticizing the self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” Argentine President Javier・Praised Mr. Millais.
Over the weekend, he wrote a guest editorial in the leading newspaper World am Sonntag, arguing that Germany is on the brink of economic and cultural collapse, defending the AfD against accusations of radicalism, and criticizing its policies, including regulation and taxes. He praised the party's approach to the economy. policy.
Eva Marie Kogel, editor-in-chief of the opinion section of a centre-right newspaper, said: Posted X announced that he had submitted his resignation in protest against the decision to publish the article.
Politicians from across the political spectrum criticized Mr. Musk's attempts to place themselves on the scale of German democracy, with Health Minister Karl Lauterbach of Mr. Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) Calling the intervention “indecent and extremely problematic,” Mertz said Musk's intervention was “unwarranted and extremely problematic.” “Pushy and arrogant.”
“In the history of Western democracies, I cannot recall a comparable intervention in the election activities of a friendly country,” Merz told the Funke Media Group.
After Scholz's centre-left coalition collapsed last month, he called for a vote of confidence to hold a general election in February, seven months earlier than planned. His SPD is widely expected to lose to Merz's CDU/CSU coalition amid voter anger over the cost of living and meager economic growth.
Last week, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier explicitly criticized Mr. criticized indirectly.
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Although Steinmeier has a largely ceremonial role, he warned of “outside influence” in the campaign, particularly referring to recent “open and overt” attempts against X to sway the vote. The comment was widely interpreted as a reprimand for Mr. Musk.
AfD members have been working for months to infiltrate the Trump campaign. Alice Weidel, co-leader of the party, was one of the first politicians to work abroad. Welcome Trump's election victory.
On election day last month, a small group of AfD activists posed for photos at Trump's private club, Mar-a-Lago, chanting “Fight!” fight! fight! “For cameras, English and German.
In his Die Welt endorsement, Musk cited Weidel's “same-sex partner from Sri Lanka” as evidence that the AfD's portrayal as “right-wing extremists” is clearly false. “Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” he wrote.
AfD is second vote It is approximately 19%, second only to CDU/CSU at 31%. A strong showing by the party could complicate post-election coalition building, with the winner having to find up to two partners to build a ruling majority. All mainstream political parties have ruled out cooperation with the AfD at the state or federal level.
