Politics Musk: Only the AfD can save Germany
Two months before the federal elections in Germany, US billionaire Elon Musk has come out in support of the right-wing populist AfD.
20.12.2024, 10:49
SDA
"Only the AfD can save Germany," he wrote in his online service X. The right-wing party's candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, reacted with delight: "Yes! You're absolutely right, Elon Musk!" Musk is a close advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump; he has hardly left the Republican's side for weeks.
Ahead of the planned Bundestag elections on February 23, the AfD is in second place in the polls with around 19 percent, behind the Christian Democrats with more than 30 percent. All parties represented in the Bundestag have ruled out working with the far-right party.
The American tech billionaire, who as Tesla boss is one of the largest employers in the federal state of Brandenburg, had already praised the AfD after the European elections in the summer. The party is described as right-wing extremist, "but the political positions of the AfD that I have read about do not sound extremist", he wrote on X at the beginning of June. The only European Tesla plant is located in Grünheide, east of Berlin.
Musk has also been interfering in British politics for months. He has pledged his support to the right-wing populist Reform UK party and is discussing a donation with Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.
