Elon Musk has spent the week derailing a bipartisan funding bill, sending the U.S. government hurtling toward a shutdown. But on Friday, the tech billionaire broadened his scope from domestic to international politics with a ringing endorsement of Alternative for Germany, the country’s far-right political party.
Early Friday morning on his social media platform, X, Musk posted, “Only the AfD can save Germany.”
The AfD is an ethnonationalist party that has faced criticism for its ties to neo-Nazis and, per the BBC, considers immigrants “not ‘properly German,’” regardless of citizenship status. The party has gained traction in recent years, with Vox’s Li Zhou writing that AfD support is based on a vision of Germany “that’s white, that relies on fossil fuels, that’s hostile toward more immigrants, and that’s adopted many of the same anti-LGBTQ positions that are common among conservatives in the US.”
Musk’s endorsement, which comes with a February election on the horizon in Germany, has been celebrated by the AfD, its members, and leadership—but slammed by many others. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said of Musk’s post: “We have freedom of opinion—it also goes for multibillionaires, but freedom of opinion also means that you can say things that aren’t right and don’t contain good political advice.”
In the U.S., observers have railed against the endorsement, with conservative commentator Bill Kristol writing, “I think this should be kind of a big deal.… The AfD is Germany’s neo-Nazi party,” and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeting examples of AfD officials’ hateful actions and remarks, writing, “The AfD’s mission is to rehabilitate the image of the Nazi movement.”
Over the past year or so, Musk has gradually aligned himself with the AfD.
In October 2023, he quote-tweeted a post from a far-right German X account that supported the AfD stopping search and rescues of asylum-seekers in the Mediterranean, which the user said facilitated “European suicide.” “Is the German public aware of this?” Musk wrote, but, amid backlash, later posted, “I have not ‘supported’ any political party and don’t know AFD from a hole in the ground.”
In June, Musk expressed curiosity about the party in a reply to Naomi Seibt, a 24-year-old far-right German political activist known as the “anti-Greta.” “Why is there such a negative reaction from some about AfD?” Musk wrote. “They keep saying ‘far right’, but the policies of AfD that I’ve read about don’t sound extremist. Maybe I’m missing something.” Musk’s Friday endorsement came in a response to Seibt on X.
The world’s richest man has occasionally dipped his toes into European politics, with a major through line in his forays being opposition to immigration. Musk himself is an immigrant from South Africa.
