Ahead of Germany's upcoming elections in February, US billionaire Elon Musk expressed his unequivocal support for the country's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in a live conversation with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel on Thursday evening.
Musk, who has been one of the closest allies of US President-elect Donald Trump for several months and will soon be an unofficial member of his second administration, had previously shown his support for the AfD in a post on X, and in an opinion column in the German newspaper Welt.
"Only AfD can save Germany, end of story. People really need to get behind AfD, otherwise things are going to get very, very much worse in Germany," Musk said during the hour-long discussion on X, the social media platform he owns.
Musk presented Weidel as the "leading candidate" to run Germany after the election, stating that she is currently enjoying the most popularity in the polls. However, polls show that AfD is in second place, over 10 percentage points behind the centre-right CDU.
'Hitler was a communist'
The conversation was streamed on Musk's own X account, where he has 211 million followers. While there was no clear theme in the discussion between Weidel and Musk, the two discussed a wide range of issues, including the "need for nuclear energy", the "need to reduce bureaucracy" and "the dangers of illegal immigration".
Both also praised Donald Trump, whose treatment by the German media during his presidential campaign was "staggering," according to Weidel. She also expressed her hope that Trump would put an end to the war in Ukraine.
"I think Donald Trump will resolve this conflict very quickly," Musk replied.
The US billionaire also asked the AfD leader about the recurring accusations of affiliation between her party's ideas and those of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party. Weidel replied that, on the contrary, the former German dictator was far from being a conservative like her. "He was a communist and considered himself a socialist," she said – a statement far from the consensus of historians and (political) experts.
Elon Musk. Credit: Allison Robbert/POOL/AFP/Belga
The discussion ended with questions about Musk's company SpaceX and its project to go to Mars, so "humanity can become a multi-planetary species."
Musk's interference in European affairs has been criticised by many leaders on the continent, with the notable exception of Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. On Thursday, she said that Musk was the target of "scandalous criticism" from European leaders only because he was right-wing.
Weidel has welcomed Musk’s support, but his comments have sparked outrage among other German politicians. They have accused the billionaire of trying to use his influence to interfere in German politics ahead of the upcoming national elections on 23 February.
