new York
CNN
—
Elon Musk is not only getting into American politics, supporting a far-right German political party.
Musk, Trump’s billionaire ally who is play a public role in the new administration, posted Friday in support of Alternative for Germany, or AfD, after the collapse of the German government this week.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote Friday while reposting a video of far-right political activist Naomi Seibt.
The AfD, which has recently seen a rise in popularity, has touted its populist and anti-immigrant “Germany first” positions. But the party has also been accused of resurrecting Nazi-era ideology and slogans. In May, a judge ruled that German domestic intelligence services could continue to monitor the AfD because of the alleged threat it poses to German democracy, rejecting the party’s challenge.
Its youth wing, Young Alternative (JA), has been designated by German authorities as a “confirmed extremist” organization. The party’s main candidate in the eastern German state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, was convicted earlier this year of violating German law banning the utterance of Nazi slogans in public.
But the party enjoys growing support. AfD recently became the first far-right party to win a national election in Germany since the Nazi era, although all of the country’s major political parties have said they will not sit with them in a coalition, which would be necessary to form enough seats for a government in power.
This is not the first time that Elon Musk has entered German politics. In June, he responded to a video by Seibt asking: “Why is there such a negative reaction from some people about the AfD?” They keep talking about “far right”, but the AfD policies I’ve heard about don’t seem extremist. Maybe I’m missing something,” he wrote. And last month he called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz a “fool” after his governing coalition collapsed.
On Friday, Musk continued to post about the AfD, writing in response to a user’s post about the party’s immigration policy that it “seems reasonable.”
Musk began following AfD leader Alice Weidel on X, who responded to his support by posting a video expressing her gratitude.
“The alternative for Germany is indeed the one and only alternative for our country; our very last option. I wish you and President Donald Trump all the best in the next term! » she wrote.
Christian Lindner, the leader of Germany’s pro-business Liberal Democratic Party, also responded to Musk’s post on Friday, urging him not to “rush to conclusions from a distance.”
“While migration control is crucial for Germany, the AfD opposes freedom and business – and it is a far-right party,” Lindner wrote.
Musk is increasingly supporting far-right causes in Europe. Earlier this year, Stirred Musk anti-immigration riots in the UK, writing on its social media platform that “civil war is inevitable” in response to an article attributing the violent protests to the effects of “mass migration and open borders”.
Earlier this week, Nigel Farage, a far-right British populist politician and Trump ally, said Musk was considering funding his Reform UK party.
Write in the Telegraph newspaperFarage said that after meeting Musk he “left us in no doubt that he was right behind us” and that he was in “ongoing negotiations” to make a financial contribution.