The American tycoon Elon Muskresponsible for companies such as Tesla, SpaceX and the social network supports the far-right party Alternative to Germany (AfD) by stating that this training “opens the way” to a country settled “in mediocrity.”
“Germany has settled into mediocrity. “It is time for bold changes and the AfD is the only party that paves this way,” wrote Musk in an article published in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper The world whose content has emerged this Saturday.
The newspaper Handelsblatta German reference in economic information, partially documents the businessman’s article in its digital edition and points out that Musk sees Germany “on the verge of economic and cultural collapse”a circumstance that led him to express his opinion, given that he has made important investments on German soil; His electric car manufacturing company Tesla has one of its ‘Gigafactories’ in Brandenburg, a facility where it employs around 12,000 people.
For Musk, AfD is “the last spark of hope for this country”as he wrote in his forum published this weekend, since, among other things, this formation is committed to “dismantle government overregulation, reduce taxes and deregulate the market”principles that have made the entrepreneur’s successful companies succeed.
Part of his writing appeared this Saturday published on the account of X de AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel who reproduced the part of Musk’s text in which he alludes to the issue of immigration, one of the central topics of his training program.
“AfD advocates a controlled immigration policy that favors integration and the preservation of German culture and security. “This is not about xenophobia, but about ensuring that Germany does not lose its identity to globalization.”wrote Musk as Weidel reproduced the text of the businessman who has become a close collaborator of the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump.
Although in the AfD they took advantage of Musk’s support, in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the main opposition party and favorite in the polls ahead of the general elections on February 23there were those who reacted with a critical tone to what was stated by the magnate owner of X, Tesla and Space X.
Jens Spahnprominent CDU politician and minister during the time of the chancellor Angela Merkelrecalled in his X account that AfD “wants to leave NATO, reactivate Nord Stream 2 and is anti-United States and pro-Putin and pro-Russia.”
“Is that what the United States wants?” Spahn asked rhetorically in his publication in construction of the Tesla factory in the German town of Grünheide. “If it were for the AfD, there would be no Elon Musk investments in Germany”according to Spahn, who pointed out that other parties, “that do not have far-right, conspiracy-minded and anti-Semitic radicals in their ranks,” also support the ideas of “less regulation, stopping massive illegal immigration and are against ideological energy policies.” .
In another reaction this Saturday, Marco Buschmanngeneral secretary of the liberal party (FDP), told the newspaper Bild that AfD wants to leave the EU, the euro and NATO, which represents “economic and security policy suicide.”
On the other hand, the article published in The world caused the resignation of one of its editor-in-chiefs. “Today a text from Elon Musk appeared in the World on Sunday. Yesterday, I submitted my resignation after the printing of this Sunday edition, indicated the head of editorial content, Eva Marie Kogel, in a message posted on X, a social network owned by Musk.
The statements of Musk, the richest man in the world, were also refuted by the new editor-in-chief of The world, Jan Philipp Burgardfor whom “even a genius can make mistakes.” The AfD “is a danger to our values and our economy,” the journalist said, noting that a party leader, Björn Höcke, “has been convicted several times for using a banned Nazi slogan.”
The dissemination of the text caused controversy in a country in the midst of an electoral campaign for the early elections in February. The Association of German Journalists (DJV) protested against the “election advertising” permitted by the wording of The world. “The German media must not allow themselves to be manipulated as mouthpieces for autocrats and their friends,” criticized its leader, Mika Beuster.
The world belongs to the Axel Springer press group, the most influential in Germany, of which the tabloid is also a part Bildthe most read in the country.
Musk previously said on his a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who had lived on German soil since 2006, who had been recognized as a refugee in 2016 and whose motivations are still speculated.
That day, Musk also noted on his X account that Chancellor Olaf Scholz “should resign immediately” and He called the head of the German Government an “incompetent fool.”
According to voting intention polls, AfD is the second most supported party by the electoratesince it appears in these surveys within a demographic range between 18% and 19.5%. In the polls, only the CDU appears above the extreme right, since the Christian Democrats have a vote expectation of between 31% and 36%.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
