His comments angered senior German government officials, who on Monday said the timing was just weeks before Germany’s snap parliamentary elections – and, in their view, are obviously intended to influence the German public, which the message on whether or not Musk achieves this goal. aim.
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(Co-leader of German far-right party AfD Alice Weidel attends an AfD election campaign in front of the cathedral in Magdeburg, Germany, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi))
“It is true that Elon Musk will influence the federal elections,” German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said at a press conference on Monday.
Hoffmann said that Musk is not too explicit in expressing his opinion, adding: “After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest absurdities. “
Musk has come under heavy criticism for his obvious support for the Alternative for Germany political party just weeks before early parliamentary elections are due to be held in February.
Musk this fall denounced German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “fool. ”
Musk praised the AfD last week on his X social media platform, writing: “Only the AfD can save Germany. “
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, arrives at the Capitol. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty)
Musk reiterated the same in an opinion piece published in the center-right German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
“The claim that the AfD is far-right is obviously false, given that Alice Weidel, the party leader, has a same-sex spouse from Sri Lanka! Does this remind you of Hitler? Please!” Musk said about AfD co-chair Alice Weidel.
He added that, in his opinion, the AfD “can lead the country towards a long term in which economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are mere wishes, but a reality”.
Those remarks have sparked criticism from current and former U.S. lawmakers, and from leaders in Berlin, who noted the party’s reputation as a neo-Nazi group.
Hoffman, the German government spokesman, said Monday that Elon Musk’s proposal for the AfD was “advice to vote for a party that is being monitored [by domestic intelligence] because it is suspected of being a right-wing extremist” and “that has already been recognized” as partly far-right.
German health minister Karl Lauterbach, also a member of the Social Democratic party (SPD), criticized Musk’s intervention as “undignified and highly problematic.”
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, D.C. (Allison Robbert/AFP/via Getty Images)
All mainstream German political parties have ruled out working with the AfD, and its youth wing was designated as a “confirmed extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency earlier this year.
The AfD, for its part, rejected this characterization.
The reaction from American and German officials did not deter Musk, who used his op-ed to argue that the German economy is crippled by excessive regulation and bureaucracy, and described the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as “the last spark of hope for Germany.
“Traditional parties have failed in Germany,” Musk wrote in the opinion piece on the German SPD and classic parties. “His policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest and the erosion of national identity. “
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The decision to run Musks’s op-ed in a center-right newspaper was heavily criticized and prompted Welt am Sonntag’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, to announce her resignation.
Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the 2024 election and other national news.
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