Elon Musk’s article causes discord and dismissal at “Welt”

Elon Musk caused a lot of controversy this year. What particularly caused a stir was the fact that the tech billionaire actively supported the incoming US President Donald Trump.

But the Tesla boss and owner of Platform X not only has a soft spot for right-wing populists in the USA, but also in Europe – and Germany. And that causes internal turmoil at a major German newspaper.

Musk has renewed his call for the AfD in the federal election in the “Welt”. “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” writes Musk in a guest article for “Welt am Sonntag” (WamS). The post was published online on Saturday.

Last week he stated laconically on X: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” Now Musk justified his choice recommendation in more detail. The AfD would represent the right positions on the issues of economic recovery, energy supply and migration control. He also sees the AfD as committed to “political realism”.

Musk, who is known for provocative, high-frequency postings on his platform and who, among other things, called Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) a “fool,” continues to write in the newspaper: “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly wrong, if you consider that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka. Does that sound like Hitler to you?”

The future editor-in-chief of the “Welt” group, Jan Philipp Burgard, contradicted the billionaire’s statements in the newspaper: “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong.” Both articles – Musk’s and Burgard’s – were placed right next to each other in the printed newspaper.

But the Musk contribution led to anger within the editorial team. Eva Marie Kogel, the head of the opinion section of “Welt” and “WamS” of the Welt newspaper group, posted on

Other world journalists also publicly posted their displeasure on X and spoke of a “quasi-election call” for the AfD, the publication of which was a mistake. “Welt” reporter Lennart Pfahler wrote: “This text is an indictment.”

According to media reports, the printing of Musk’s guest article sparked a heated controversy within the editorial team before Christmas Eve. The editorial committee had already warned against publication back then, writes the industry service “Medieninsider”; The “Spiegel” reports on further disputes in the final editorial conference on Friday.

When asked by the German Press Agency about the creation of the article and how to deal with internal criticism, the media group Axel Springer responded with a joint statement from the current “Welt” group editor-in-chief Ulf Poschardt and his successor Burgard: “The current discussion about the Text by Elon Musk is very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.”

This includes dealing with polarizing positions and classifying them journalistically. “This will continue to determine the compass of ‘The World’ in the future. We will develop ‘Die Welt’ even more decisively as a forum for such debates.”

Musk is considered a close advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump and was commissioned by him to work with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on a newly created committee called DOGE (“Department of Government Efficiency”) to develop proposals for cutting government spending.

The tech billionaire, who as Tesla boss is one of the largest employers in Brandenburg, has also been interfering in British politics for months. He has assured the right-wing populist British party Reform UK of his support. There are media reports that he is said to have supported Nigel Farrage’s British anti-EU party with millions.

Musk also intervened in Italian politics in favor of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a few days after Trump’s election victory in November.

Before the planned federal election on February 23rd, the AfD is in second place in surveys with around 19 percent, behind the Union with more than 30 percent. All parties represented in the Bundestag rule out cooperation with the far-right party, which is classified by the constitutional protection authorities as a suspected right-wing extremist case and in parts of the country such as Thuringia and Saxony as definitely right-wing extremist.