The German and European left-liberal elites are fretting over the potential impact Elon Musk could have on the German national elections which are set to take place less than a month from now.
The U.S. billionaire made headlines again on Saturday, January 25th, by appearing at the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party’s campaign rally via video link.
In his message to the attendees of the rally in the eastern German city of Halle, the owner of the X social media platform said that the AfD is “the best hope for Germany.”
Many on the Left called out Elon Musk for saying at the rally on Saturday that “it’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.” Referring to Germany’s Nazi past, the billionaire said “there is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.”
Polish liberal prime minister Donald Tusk cynically tweeted that Musk’s words “sounded all too familiar and ominous, especially only hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz concurred with his Polish counterpart, commenting: “I can only agree.”
Elon Musk, who has assumed a role in the new U.S. administration led by Donald Trump, has in recent months declared his public support for a host of conservative, sovereigntist parties and politicians in Europe.
In late December, he wrote an opinion piece for German Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag, claiming that “only the AfD” could save Germany from decline. A few weeks ago, he hosted a conversation with the co-leader of the party, Alice Weidel, on his own X account.
The European Union has threatened Musk over his actions, warning the billionaire that boosting the interview with Weidel on X using algorithms would give the AfD an unfair advantage in the election campaign and would not comply with the EU’s online censorship tool, the so-called Digital Services Act.
Left-liberal German politicians, too, are talking of political interference by an outsider, but Musk has only exercised his right to free speech, and there has been no proof that his declaration of support has impacted German politics in any way.
According to the latest opinion polls, AfD’s popularity has not significantly increased or decreased in the past month. The party had been polling in second place at 20-21% long before Musk got involved.
German establishment parties used to blame Russian cyber activity and disinformation for AfD’s rise in the polls—now they are pointing the finger at Elon Musk.
However, the real reason for the party’s popularity is not some sort of interference or unfair meddling. It is a reaction to the incompetencies of the mainstream parties who have led Germany down a path of economic decline and lawlessness with their absurd energy and green policies and their lax attitude towards illegal migration and crime.
The murder of a 2-year-old toddler last week by an Afghan failed asylum seeker will have a much bigger impact on the polls than Musk can ever wish to have.
A recent survey by the INSA institute reveals that two-thirds of Germans want a de facto entry ban for all illegal immigrants—a proposal made by the most popular party, the centre-right CDU, and backed by the AfD.
Yet left-wing parties are less concerned with what the voters are telling them and more worried about the harm Musk can do, as well as about a potential cooperation between the CDU and the AfD.
CDU party leader Friedrich Merz said that despite the existing cordon sanitaire around the AfD, he would be willing to accept the right-wing party’s votes in a bid to pass a motion in the parliament that would enable Germany to close its borders to illegal migrants.
The unpopular Greens’ candidate for chancellor, Robert Habeck, said on Sunday that it would be a “strategic mistake” to cooperate with the AfD, and accused CDU of wanting to incorporate the politics of Austria, where the cordon sanitaire was torn down: the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), the winner of the Austrian elections, is on course to set up a government with the centre-right People’s Party (ÖVP).
Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is responsible for the disastrous migration policy and rise in crime, also weighed in on the subject, warning Merz not to push through a motion in the Bundestag with votes from the AfD. “The firewall surrounding the AfD must not crumble,” he said in an interview.
Leftists have been eager to portray the AfD as a “far-right” party akin to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party, and have gone to great lengths to try and undermine its credibility. The state is legally spying on the party, and left-wing media, including publicly funded publications, continue to spread disinformation about the AfD.
The bid to intimidate the AfD and its supporters amounts to nothing less than political persecution that has been ongoing for many years. That is the real election interference, not Elon Musk’s vote of confidence.
