Elon Musk: How German media classifies his AfD recommendation

The “Welt am Sonntag” attracted sharp criticism by publishing a guest article by tech billionaire Elon Musk with a call for the AfD. As a consequence, the opinion leader of “Welt” and “Welt am Sonntag” submitted her resignation. The German Journalists’ Association and representatives of several parties condemned the article, while business expert Veronika Grimm called for an open debate about the AfD and its issues.

At the beginning of the week, a post by Musk on his online service X made headlines in which he wrote that only the AfD could “save Germany.” Musk then explained his thoughts in his guest article for “Welt am Sonntag”. He mostly receives opposition from other German media:

“Not everything that promises attention or clicks is good journalism. Elon Musk’s guest article, which appeared in ‘Welt am Sonntag’ and on welt.de, is the most widely read and is eagerly discussed in public. It is not good. Of course there are legitimate arguments against German energy policy, economic policy or migration policy. But the outrage over Musk’s statements is justified: the Germans will soon be electing a new Bundestag. Every prominent election call, and that is exactly what this text is, seems excessive Tesla’s founder even makes the absurd thesis that only the AfD can save Germany. What is even more fatal is that the influence comes from the environment of the designated US President Donald Trump. Restraint and respect prohibit such texts from Putin’s empire “If the AfD came in, no one would be surprised. But if they come from the USA and are hastily published by the German media, it will be damn serious.”

“Politicians did Musk and Springer the favor of commenting on the post in detail. Representatives of the CDU and FDP were touchingly eager to tell the methodically insane Musk where he was wrong. SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch, whose party cannot bring himself to do so, ” X’, let alone that it would be capable of a media policy that only combats the worst excesses of the digital platforms, also worked on Springer’s decision from bringing the contribution. […] In the end, it will not be German politics that decide how far Musk’s power extends. The decisive battle will be fought in the USA, where the estrangement between the oligarch and parts of the MAGA movement has long since begun. It is sparked by the attitude towards immigration policy, in which the tech elite wants generous exceptions, at least for the foreign skilled workers they urgently need. But this touches on a central motive of the most important Trump voters.”

“The newspaper ‘Welt am Sonntag’ should not have published the election advertising of the tech billionaire Elon Musk for the partly right-wing extremist AfD. Because Musk is known for supporting those who despise democracy, just like the AfD. In addition, the paper from the Springer Verlag gave a foreign politician and designated member of the US government the platform to interfere in the local election. This is not appropriate for politicians in western democracies to support him Those in charge of the Sunday newspaper have not ensured diversity of opinion. Rather, they have damaged the firewall with which democratic forces in this country are trying to label and outlaw right-wing ideas. One can only hope that other editorial teams do not follow this example.

“The fact that the future editor-in-chief of the ‘Welt’ group, Jan Philipp Burgard, represents a contrary opinion does not relativize Musk’s position – it legitimizes it. Ultimately, it suggests that when it comes to the question of the AfD, there is a ‘on the one hand’ and an ‘on the other hand ‘. This ignores the fact that the party is pursuing anti-constitutional goals with racism, agitation, exclusion and ‘remigration’ fantasies. (…) The ‘world’ has allowed itself to be harnessed to its wagon. The role of journalism is not to provide a prominent stage for any election advertising, especially not for a right-wing extremist and essentially anti-constitutional party (…) Yes, we have to “If a right-wing libertarian American billionaire campaigns for an extremist party, that’s not a contribution to the debate – it’s agitation.”

“You can think of Elon Musk as a power-mad billionaire who has no idea about German politics. You can think of his theories as complete nonsense. But what no one should do is ignore him. Because the tech billionaire has power, money and Apparently no scruples. This man is now intervening in the federal election campaign. It is extremely dangerous for democratic forces to refute Musk’s claims with false statements are quick and memorable. But leaving the field to foreign forces à la Musk is the wrong approach. It would benefit those who are enemies of democracy and the constitution.”

“If you want freedom of expression, you have to endure unpleasant opinions. Musk’s AfD election advertising in the ‘world’ falls under this, it is within the framework of our laws. It is a weakly argued, bumpy comment, pretty thin soup, most newspapers would have such a text Simply for journalistic reasons, the article is enlightening. From now on, every Tesla driver can hope that Musk works better than he writes would turn our election campaign upside down if everyone should free themselves.”

“Elon Musk’s analysis is not fair, ignores many of this country’s achievements and is clearly exaggerated. However, as a contribution to the debate on the state of the Federal Republic, the text must be taken seriously. The conclusion of Trump’s friend, on the other hand, is fatal and dangerous. He sees the AfD as the ‘last spark of hope for this country’. The election call for the AfD disqualifies Musk’s analysis if he even supports the right-wing populists with large amounts of money, such as his US partner Donald Trump There is even a fear that the federal election will be distorted.”

“There are states in which freedom of expression is simply greater than in Germany. The USA is one of them. There, everyone is allowed to openly idealize Nazis, deny the Holocaust and incite hatred against migrants. None of this is punishable. So it shouldn’t be surprising if The richest man in the world publishes outrageous things in a German newspaper and praises a party that is under increased scrutiny by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. That is simply normal for someone like Elon Musk. After all, his friend Donald Trump also did so during the election campaign claims that migrants eat dogs and cats in Springfield. And in times of (…) ‘hybrid warfare’, more is required of responsible citizens than good faith. So when a billionaire praises a party that wants to abolish the euro, deport migrants and turn back the energy transition – then it shouldn’t actually be a problem to realize: Elon Musk doesn’t mean well for Germany.”

“Musk is powerful, he has invested in Germany and has the ear of the future US president. He is certainly not an easy political opponent, but Democrats must not kowtow to him.

Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz, Robert Habeck – they should call Musk’s maneuver what it is: a brazen attempt by a foreign billionaire to influence a democratic election according to his own interests. Anyone who wants to lead this country must strongly reject such efforts. The democratic forces can confront Musk with facts and arguments. Musk is weakly positioned there, as you can now read.”

“Elon Musk has a (simple) opinion on everything and everyone. As the richest man in the world, he believes that this should be relevant to everyone. He has zero interest in whether it is appropriate for a close Trump confidant to be involved in the election campaign But the impact of his words should not be underestimated: there are many people in this country who admire him as a visionary tech entrepreneur and find his attitudes remarkable The fact that Musk so misunderstands the anti-business AfD can only be explained by the fact that he has not yet looked into it in more detail PR coup – but one that backfires for Springer-Verlag. The fact that a counter-speech is published at the same time can no longer cure the breach of journalistic taboo.”

“How much attention Elon Musk can generate is demonstrated not only by his posts about Germany, but also by the guest article in the World on Sunday. Almost all media (including this text) engaged in observation, analysis and debate. The dilemma: The news value of such radical statements by the richest entrepreneur and one of the most powerful men in the world is too great to ignore. This has an amplification effect that drives Elon Musk’s rhetorical value ever higher in the attention economy.”

“There would have been so many other options, such as an interview, Musk could always have had his say, but his democracy-poisoning views could have been classified straight away. The ‘Welt’ has decided against it, and no counter-comment alongside it will help. That’s dangerous how the ‘world’ abuses the guise of freedom of expression. It supports the error that this freedom must first mean being able to announce anything possible without being contradicted, whether right or wrong The Basic Law, the lesson from hatred of Jews and war speeches, does not define freedom of expression in exactly this way. Only those who disregard our history print an AfD election manifesto from Elon Musk.”