After Elon Musk’s mob attack: This is how Olaf Scholz reacts

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is remaining calm in the face of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s personal attacks against him and other top politicians. “As Social Democrats, we have been used to it since the century before last that there are rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics – and do not keep their opinions behind the scenes,” Scholz told the newspaper star.

Of course, things are a little different today because media companies and platforms now have a global reach. “But there is nothing new in this matter. “You have to stay cool,” said the SPD politician. “I find it much more worrying than such insults that Musk supports a partly right-wing extremist party like the AfD, which preaches rapprochement with Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations.”

Musk called Scholz a “fool” and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier an “undemocratic tyrant” on his short message service X. “The Federal President is not an anti-democratic tyrant and Germany is a strong and stable democracy – Musk can say whatever he wants,” said Scholz: “In Germany, things are based on the will of the citizens, not on the erratic statements of a billionaire the USA.”

Scholz doesn’t want to invite Musk to the Chancellery. “I don’t believe in currying favor with Mr. Musk. I’m happy to leave that to others,” he said: “There are a lot of people on social media who want to attract attention with shrill sayings. The following applies: Don’t feed the troll.”

Scholz said he himself met Musk once in March 2022 at the opening of the Tesla factory in Brandenburg and spoke briefly. At that time, the AfD there was agitating against the location of the plant in Grünheide. A few months later, Musk contacted him again by phone with a personal concern: “It is no secret that Tesla was against government funding for e-charging stations in Germany.”