German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lashed out at Elon Musk and pleaded with voters not to let “owners of social media channels” decide the country’s upcoming election, after the Tesla boss said only the AfD party could “save Germany.”
Germans will go to the polls in parliamentary elections on February 23 after a coalition government led by Scholz, made up of his Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, ended in collapse.
In his upcoming New Year’s speech, which will be broadcast tonight around 7:00 p.m., the SDP leader alluded to a recent confrontation with Musk, who backed the AfD and called for Scholz to resign following a deadly attack in Magdeburg. .
Germany’s future “will not be decided by the owners of social media channels,” Scholz said in the speech.
“It will not be the person who shouts the loudest who will decide where Germany goes from now on, but it will depend on the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.
‘I appeal to you today: please go vote! “If we look around the world, we will know what a great achievement free and fair elections are,” he added.
The world’s richest man doubled down on his Dec. 20 comments that “only the AfD can save Germany,” writing that the anti-immigration AfD was the “last ray of hope for the country” on the “brink of cultural and economic collapse.” . .
Despite several AfD branches being labeled “extremist” by Germany’s internal security agency, Musk said the AfD’s classification as far-right was “clearly false,” as party leader Alice Weidel “has a Sri Lankan same-sex couple”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured) attacked Elon Musk and pleaded with voters not to let “owners of social media channels” decide the country’s upcoming election.
Elon Musk (pictured) wrote earlier this month that the anti-immigration AfD party was the “last ray of hope for the country” on the “brink of cultural and economic collapse.”
The election comes after five people were killed and more than 200 injured in a car attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on December 20, fanning the flames of a debate over limiting immigration and a tougher stance. about deportations.
Germany has been on high alert for weeks following the terrorist attack in the city of Magdeburg, in which Saudi doctor Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, crashed his rented SUV into a crowd at the Christmas market.
Nine-year-old André Gleißner was killed and at least 235 people were injured in the horrific attack, dozens of whom are still in serious condition, according to authorities.
Police are still puzzled over why Abdulmohsen attacked the market, with prosecutor indicating that the doctor’s complaint about how Germany was treating dissident Saudi asylum seekers could be a possible motive.
Abdulmohsen, who was detained next to the dented vehicle, has expressed anti-Islamic views, anger at German immigration officials, including former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and support for far-right narratives about the “Islamization” of Europe.
Abdulmohsen reportedly bequeathed his entire fortune to the German Red Cross, but did not include any political messages in the document.
He was taken into custody on five counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder, as well as causing serious bodily injury, prosecutors said Saturday night, but not so far on terrorism-related charges.
The 50-year-old is currently being held in a high-security prison near Magdeburg, where he is constantly monitored by cameras and must wear paper clothes “so as not to hang himself in his cell,” according to the Bild tabloid.