Elon Musk defended his support for Germany’s far-right AfD party in an op-ed in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Saturday, prompting the resignation of a senior editor.
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”.
With Musk set to play a key role in US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, the billionaire’s interventions have sparked accusations of meddling in Germany’s democracy.
The country will go to the polls on February 23 and the AfD will get around 19 percent of the vote.
Musk’s opinion article in Welt am Sonntag provoked outraged reactions and the resignation of the conservative media’s opinion editor.
‘Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in the Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it was printed,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote on the Musk-owned social media platform X.
Meanwhile, Greens campaign manager Andreas Audretsch wrote: “We must not allow the Elon Musks of this world, the Chinese state or Russian troll factories to undermine our democracies in Europe.”
Elon Musk (pictured) defended his support for Germany’s far-right AfD party in an op-ed in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Saturday.
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 (pictured) photo) “has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka.”
The Association of German Journalists (DJV) protested against the “election advertising” permitted by the newspaper’s editorial office.
“The German media must not allow themselves to be manipulated into acting as mouthpieces for autocrats and their friends,” said DJV leader Mika Beuster.
Even Welt’s new editor-in-chief, Jan Philipp Burgard, was forced to disagree with Musk in the op-ed, writing: “Even a genius can be wrong.”
Arguing that the AfD “is a danger to our values and our economy,” Burgard noted that Bjoern Hoecke, AfD leader in the state of Thuringia, “has been convicted several times for using a banned Nazi slogan.”
Die Welt belongs to Axel Springer, Germany’s most influential press group.
Its programming includes the tabloid Bild, the most read newspaper in the country.