Elon Musk’s chat with German far-right AfD candidate draws alarm : NPR

BERLIN — Roughly 200,000 users logged onto the social media platform X on Thursday to listen to the world’s richest man court Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Elon Musk’s recent endorsement of the party, known by its German initials AfD, and Thursday’s heavily publicized livestreamed chat have infuriated Germany’s other political parties as they campaign for elections slated for Feb. 23.

After working to help elect Donald Trump, and gaining a new role over U.S. government efficiency, tech billionaire Musk has gone on a tear on X criticizing and insulting European leaders — from the United Kingdom to Germany, France and others — causing alarm among politicians, while winning applause from some including Italy’s prime minister.

At the start of the livestream, Musk introduced Weidel as “the leading candidate to run Germany,” even though she has little chance of becoming chancellor. While the AfD is polling in second place, no other political party is willing to govern in coalition with it.

Musk had only words of praise for the politician.

“I think Alice Weidel is a very reasonable person,” he said. “Nothing outrageous is being proposed, just common sense.”

He then issued a warning to the German electorate: “People really need to get behind the AfD. Otherwise, things are going to get very much worse in Germany.”

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has put the AfD — a party known for hardline stances against immigration and Islam — under surveillance for suspected right-wing extremism, which the party denies. Figures in the party have been accused of using Nazi slogans in speeches and downplaying the Holocaust.

But Weidel surprised X-watchers when she declared that Adolf Hitler had in fact been a “communist,” despite being a Nazi dictator who sent communists to concentration camps and invaded the Soviet Union.

“He wasn’t a conservative,” she said. “He wasn’t a libertarian. He was this communist, socialist guy.”

Weidel thanked Musk for giving her a platform, saying, “Elon, it’s a completely new situation for me that I can just have a normal conversation and I’m not interrupted or negatively framed.”

In a discussion that was at times stilted and peppered with giggling, they touched upon a wide range of topics, from immigration policy and nuclear power to alien lifeforms.

Berlin’s political center has been aghast since Musk threw his weight behind the AfD. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz told one interviewer, “Do not feed the troll!”

But last month, the conservative newspaper Welt am Sonntag published an op-ed by Musk urging Germans to vote for the AfD. The paper’s opinion editor resigned in protest.

Campaign strategist Johannes Hillje says the legacy media platform lends the party more credibility than X can among Germany’s libertarian voters.

“This demographic sees Elon Musk as a successful entrepreneur and they don’t mind his radical political views,” Hillje argues.

But many do mind, including the Green party’s chancellor candidate Robert Habeck, who is on the cover of the latest edition of German weekly Der Spiegel, warning Musk to keep his hands off German democracy.

Musk retorted on X: “Habeck is a traitor to the German people.”

Habeck also posted his pushback on Musk’s social media platform.

“With his billions upon billions of dollars and unbridled media power, Elon Musk’s support for the AfD is not some ignorant whim,” Habeck said in a video message. “He’s emboldening those who want to weaken Europe and its rule of law, the very regulations that limit unchecked power.”

European Commission officials monitored Musk’s talk with Weidel, checking for what the European Union’s Digital Services Act classifies as hate speech or deliberate manipulation of civic discourse and electoral procedure. The commission has been investigating the platform formerly called Twitter since 2023 for violations of the 27-country bloc’s digital laws.

Musk has called himself a free speech absolutist and says he has legitimate interests in European politics, Reuters reported. He also has a Tesla factory outside Berlin.

Campaign strategist Hillje says Musk is the AfD’s most valuable campaigner — at least for now.

After backing British populist leader Nigel Farage, the tech billionaire declared last week that Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the Reform U.K. party.

Hillje says a Musk endorsement is not necessarily a safe bet:
“As an unpredictable flip-flopping guy, Musk can easily become a risk for the AfD.”