Elon Musk angers Germany’s politicians with guest article

A guest article in “Welt am Sonntag” has been causing heated debates in Germany since the weekend. In the text, tech billionaire Elon Musk aggressively promotes the AfD. Musk’s contribution was countered by a counter-speech from designated “Welt” editor-in-chief Jan Philipp Burgard. In it, he describes Musk’s “diagnosis” of the country’s economic and cultural crisis as “correct.” “But his therapeutic approach that only the AfD can save Germany is fatally wrong.”

Elon Musk apparently sees it differently. In view of an allegedly impending “economic and cultural collapse” in Germany, the AfD is “the last spark of hope for this country,” wrote the US tech billionaire. Only it can revive the German economy or prevent a loss of identity through a “controlled immigration policy”. The “depiction of the AfD as right-wing extremist,” however, is “clearly wrong.”

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

Elon Musk’s guest article appears to have been controversial within the editorial team. The opinion leader of “Welt” and “Welt am Sonntag” submitted her resignation. According to media reports, there was also further resistance to the text within the editorial team. The German Journalists’ Association and representatives of several parties also condemned the article, while economist Veronika Grimm called for an open debate about the AfD and its issues.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil criticized tech billionaire Elon Musk’s interference in the federal election campaign. “Elon Musk is trying nothing different than Vladimir Putin,” Klingbeil told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Both want to influence our elections and specifically support the AfD’s enemies of democracy. They want Germany to be weakened and plunge into chaos.” Democracy in Germany is “massively threatened from outside.” Against this, “Democrats must stand together across party lines.”

With regard to the FDP leader and dismissed Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Klingbeil told the Funke newspapers: “Such interference is forbidden. That’s why I can’t fully understand why Christian Lindner is pandering to Elon Musk and ingratiating himself with him.”

Klingbeil particularly called on the EU Commission to limit Musk’s media power. “Legal instruments against fake news” are necessary for this. “We in Europe have to get off our asses if we want to avert a major threat to democracy,” added Klingbeil.

“We have to be much more offensive and effectively limit the power of the large Internet platforms like Musk’s short message service X,” said Klingbeil. “Here a tech billionaire is trying to use his influence to influence the course of world politics.” Taking action against this is primarily the task of the EU Commission. “We need legal instruments against fake news, also to break the power of individual people. We in Europe have to get off our backs if we want to avert a major threat to democracy.”

CDU leader Friedrich Merz called Musk’s election call “overreaching and presumptuous.” “I cannot remember that in the history of Western democracies there has been a comparable case of interference in the election campaign of a friendly country,” the Union candidate for chancellor told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Musk must also have “overlooked some things,” Merz continued. With the AfD, the construction of his plant in Brandenburg “would never have happened, because it was the AfD from which the fiercest resistance to this plant came.” Leaving the EU would also “massively damage the German economy and jobs in our country.”

SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch told the “Handelsblatt” that it was “shameful and dangerous” to offer Musk such an official platform. It is also “unacceptable that foreign billionaires are trying to influence our political landscape while supporting parties that undermine our democratic values.” The Green Party campaign manager Andreas Audretsch made a similar statement.

The German Association of Journalists also protested “against the free pass for Musk” to be allowed to do AfD election advertising in a guest article. “Election advertising for a right-wing extremist party packaged as journalism, a flattering distancing that is not, and the dismissal of internal editorial critics – unbelievable!” criticized the DJV federal chairman Mika Beuster. “The German media must not allow itself to be used as a mouthpiece for autocrats and their friends,” he warned.

The economics Grimm, however, told the “FAZ” that the debate that has now been triggered is “actually good, because it is essential that we all become political now.” There is no point in suppressing discussion about the AfD and its issues. “It has to be led. And it can be led.”