BERLIN (AP) — The German authorities on Monday sought to downplay efforts by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk to become involved within the nation’s basic election marketing campaign by once more endorsing the far-right Various for Germany, or AfD, social gathering.
“Freedom of expression also includes the greatest nonsense,” authorities spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann stated, including that she wouldn’t remark additional on Musk’s statements.
She did, nonetheless, say that “it is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election through his statement.”
In that context, Hoffmann additionally identified that the AfD is being monitored by Germany’s home intelligence service on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and that it has already been acknowledged as such in some particular person German states.
Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed final month in a dispute over methods to revitalize the nation’s stagnant financial system.
Musk’s visitor opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag revealed in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he had supported Various for Germany, or AfD.
“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary.
He went on to say the far-right social gathering “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality.”
The Tesla Motors CEO additionally wrote that his funding in Germany gave him the proper to touch upon the nation’s situation.
The AfD is polling strongly, however its candidate for the highest job, Alice Weidel, has no reasonable likelihood of turning into chancellor as a result of different events refuse to work with the far-right social gathering.
An ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the expertise billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the social gathering’s public picture.
FILE — President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to look at SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship raise off for a check flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool through AP, File)
“The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!”
Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s personal opinion editor saying her resignation, pointedly on Musk’s social media platform, X.
“I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote.
Musk’s opinion piece within the Welt am Sonntag was accompanied by a important article by the long run editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, who wrote that whereas a few of Musk’s diagnoses of Germany’s issues could also be appropriate “his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong.”
Initially Revealed: December 30, 2024 at 9:26 AM EST
