Summary

Elon Musk sparked outrage in Germany by endorsing the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on his platform, X, claiming “only the AfD can save Germany.”

The AfD, which polls second ahead of Germany’s February snap election, has been labeled extremist by German intelligence.

Political leaders accused Musk of election interference, while others criticized his remarks as harmful. Musk later doubled down, calling for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s resignation.

Musk’s comments align with his past support for far-right and anti-immigration figures across Europe and beyond.

  • @givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1835 months ago

    It’s important to note that right after saying this…

    A German AFD supporter who retweets Musk drove into a Christmas market in a terrorist attack

    Germany has stricter laws about inciting violence, it’s a long shot but maybe he’ll get charges

  • Karyoplasma
    link
    fedilink
    English
    79
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    An apartheid-loving nazi calls for the nazi party to be the savior of Germany? Never would I have guessed.

    The information, I as a not very politically interested German (understatement) have: We are holding re-elections on Feburary 23rd because the current government imploded. Basically, the rich guys’ party doesn’t want to make rich guys pay taxes and being children about it, most other parties seem desperate at this point, else they wouldn’t have challenged that much. They have never cared that much, so I have no idea what changed. The populist nazi party Musk cheers for has a lot traction because people are beyond stupid and self-centered and I fear that they will get a significant amount of votes. Maybe they don’t win outright, but they will realistically take second place. I regard everyone that considers to vote for AfD as a nazi.

    • Flying Squid
      link
      fedilink
      English
      16
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      His knowledge is mostly restricted to the years 1933-1945.

      He didn’t read the ending. No one tell him the spoiler.

      • Roflmasterbigpimp
        link
        fedilink
        English
        65 months ago

        How about a Life reenactment?

        I, as Citizen of Germany by birth and Law, invite Elon Musk to Nürnberg. We bring some Judges and a Rope.

      • @J4g2F@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        To be honest the ending for rich capitalist(the same that helped Hitler in power) in west Germany was pretty good. They profit heavily during the war and afterwards the mostly just kept there companies continuing to profit.

    • @Snowclone@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      55 months ago

      He knows what benifits him. That’s the entirety of his motivations. Evil greedy assholes are quite dull, he just knows what makes him more money and more power.

  • acargitz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    67
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    We’re running into the paradox of tolerance real quick here folks. Democracies need to legislate limits to the political influence of rich idiots and soon, otherwise we’ll all end up like the US.

    • @fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      65 months ago

      Well, funny thing is we do have rules about what you can and cannot say, in Europe. I’m looking forward to him discovering those little subtleties, since he clearly cannot shut his trap.

    • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      45 months ago

      These are rules that are supposed to already exist though. Foreign political influence is always considered a bad thing by the country receiving it. The UK and Germany should have strong protections against it but apparently they don’t.

    • @pyre@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      25 months ago

      lol as if they don’t like them. they themselves are rich idiots, the only difference is that ironically they don’t have as much political influence as unelected rich idiots.

    • @Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      145 months ago

      English teacher here. Often editing to use less words can make your statements more concise and accurate. For example, try “STFU Musk, you know shit”

    • @BigBenis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      55 months ago

      Elon has a lot of money, therefore people listen to him, therefore he knows everything about anything he pleases.

  • @WeUnite@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    605 months ago

    No country is safe from Elon Musk’s election interference. It’s urgent that we boycott Twitter and Tesla. If you have a Twitter account do the following now:

    1. Send a DM to your favorite accounts and urge them to stop using Twitter.
    2. (If you haven’t already) register for Bluesky.
    3. Make a Tweet saying you are no longer using Twitter.
    4. Tell your friends to follow the same instructions.

    These could take as little as five minutes of your time but it will make a huge difference because of the ripple effect. When one person leaves it will automatically incentivize your friends to follow you. You have the power to make a difference.

  • @themaninblack@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    345 months ago

    There is nothing surprising about a white South African promoting a racist political party. White South Africans are the most openly and unabashedly racist people on the planet.

  • @Supervisor194@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    315 months ago

    Why do Putin and the billionaires he shepherds think that all this far-right democracy killing shit is so super duper? I marvel that they never seem to stop and think “this could eventually go badly for me.”

    • Diplomjodler
      link
      fedilink
      English
      275 months ago

      They want every place to be like Russia. It’s always been their main contention that democracy is just a sham and basically everyone is a fascist. This is one of the main reasons for invading Ukraine because he couldn’t tolerate a democratic nation as his neighbour. It’ll give the plebes ideas, you know.

    • @Serinus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      215 months ago

      Because Putin wants Russia to be the geopolitical superpower it was in 1960. It’s a hell of a lot easier to tear the rest of the world down than it is to build up Russia.

      That’s part of why he’s so eager for war. The last big shakeup of the global order was WWII. He doesn’t have the patience to accomplish geopolitical power closer to the way China is, by slowly building up their economy over decades.

      And he’s right that a bunch of people dying often helps the economy. The black plage was 1350, followed by the Renaissance around 1400-1600. We’re familiar enough with post WWII.

      But that’s the dumb and evil way to grant power to labor. You can create more demand for labor without literally killing half your laborers. And it turns out having a real, healthy middle class is great for the economy.

      Personally, I believe you could accomplish a similar effect by having a ridiculously high minimum wage and mandating a maximum of 32 hour work weeks. Seems like it might be worth experimenting with when the alternative “fix” is to kill half your people.

    • AreaSIX
      link
      fedilink
      English
      15 months ago

      How’s the actions of the top US billionaire who just practically bought the American government the fault of Putin? Nah man, the US has to shoulder the responsibility for unleashing this fucking plague on the rest of the world.

      Putin has done a lot of evil shit, but this one is all US all the way. In Russia, the state is the ultimate power, as evidenced by Putin’s ultimatum to the oligarchs to bend the knee when he took power. Similar to China, where Jack Ma disappeared for a while after making critical comments on Chinese state policy, and every billionaire got the message. It’s the US that has inverted this relationship so that the state bends the knee to insane billionaires like this one and let’s them run amok. So Elon can hardly be blamed on Putin.

  • Obinice
    link
    fedilink
    English
    255 months ago

    He’s a modern day Nazi leader, what do you expect him to say?

    • @Snowclone@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      35 months ago

      Matches up with history. Hitler had a giant portrait of Henry Ford in his office. American racism, genocide, and capitalism was a major inspiration for the Nazis

  • InfiniteGlitch
    link
    fedilink
    English
    22
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Elon Musk sparked outrage in Germany by endorsing the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on his platform, X, claiming “only the AfD can save Germany.”

    I do not understand the outrage on this (regard Musk being Far-Right supporter), everyone knows Musk has become an immensely Extreme Far-Right supporter and leans heavily into Fascism. He support all the Right/ Far-Right political parties and people.

    “only the AfD can save Germany.”

    As usual, his claims are immensely wrong, stupid and idiotic. I mean, the afD literally tried to do a coúp in Germany;

    1. Gevaar voor Duitsland niet geweken met oppakken coupplanners, angst voor rechts-radicale AfD groeit.
    2. Germany’s far-right AfD party to eject members for suspected links to militant group.

    The AfD, which polls second ahead of Germany’s February snap election, has been labeled extremist by German intelligence.

    Unfortunately shows that lots of people in Germany are supporting Far-Right/ Nazism ideas, tactics and ideology. Especially since it has been proven that many of the afD are Nazi-supports (especially the leaders);

    1. Co-leader of Germany’s far-right AfD party fined for using Nazi slogan

    From article 3;

    The case involved Björn Höcke’s use of “Everything for Germany!” in a 2021 speech. While prosecutors said he knew it was originally a Nazi slogan, Höcke claimed it was an “everyday saying”.

    This text is to separate the quote of the article and the quote from OP’s post.

    Political leaders accused Musk of election interference, while others criticized his remarks as harmful.

    Accussed? If I remember, he did interfere with the election in America by trying to ‘purchase’ votes (Insanity that this is allowed);

    1. Elon Musk can keep giving $1m to voters, judge rules.
    • @Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      165 months ago

      Accussed? If I remember, he did interfere with the election in America by trying to ‘purchase’ votes (Insanity that this is allowed);

      Citizens United ruling says money is speech. So in the US, this is unfortunately 100% legal.

      Not in the EU though…