Just weeks prior, Elon Musk hosted an interview on X with Alice Weidel, leader of the right-winged AfD (”Alternative für Deutschland”) and potential German chancellor candidate. I, and I’m sure many other Germans, see this interview not simply as a casual conversation and exercise in free speech – it was an endorsement of the party’s electoral programme. Musk has previously labeled the party as “the only solution for Germany”. Given their nationalist and xenophobic agenda, this comes as no surprise.
However, it does leave me sad, raging, and questioning how we arrived at this moment, where a billionaire entrepreneur, with no mandate and no accountability, wields such influence over national discourses – and people actually listen and agree?
Germany stands on the brink of its Bundestag elections, and the stakes could not be higher at the minute with the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the AfD currently being the popular choices for most people. Even during my very short visit back home over Christmas I noticed the shift in the way people discussed politics. Particularly after the tragic incident at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, conversations seemed charged with fear, anger, and a creeping acceptance of far-right rhetoric.
Particularly after the tragic incident at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, conversations seemed charged with fear, anger, and a creeping acceptance of far-right rhetoric.
This incident seems a lot like the final push people needed to justify populist narratives, and Musk’s meddling is only adding fuel to the fire. What’s even more unsettling is how Musk doesn’t seem to face any consequences for his recent actions. His salute at the Trump rally, to me, was an unmistakable gesture, for which he would have faced jail time in Germany. However, he walks away unscathed, protected by the cult trying to reframe his actions as “misunderstood” or attributed to being “on the spectrum”.
What I find most alarming is how Musk seems to operate above the rules of ordinary citizens, facing no repercussions whatsoever for his behaviour, allowing him to do just about anything. His influence nowadays isn't merely confined to the tech world, but bleeds into politics, where he immediately enjoys a high standing due to his influence as an entrepreneur.
At his most recent surprise appearance at an AfD event in Halle, he called for the restoration of pride in German culture and values. While there is nothing inherently wrong with national and cultural pride, it makes me extremely uncomfortable when it comes from someone who isn’t even German, especially if such rhetoric becomes stripped from historical awareness.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with national and cultural pride, it makes me extremely uncomfortable when it comes from someone who isn’t even German ...
He said “children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents”. While I agree that our generation cannot carry the guilt of our great-grandparents, I think that the type of guilt that we have is healthy and revolves more around memory, acknowledgement, and education. As a German I take pride in the fact that our culture is built around upholding the memory of the Holocaust, honouring its victims and working towards a future that can never allow such a thing ever again. Musk, however, is trying to rebuild this society around forgetting. There should never be a time to move on from this history just to repeat it all over again.
Nevertheless, Musk’s framing makes populists feel even more empowered to shed historical accountability and redirect blame for the country’s issues onto non-German citizens. Given the proximity to the Bundestag elections, the German government has already expressed its resentment towards Musk’s interventions, but this problem is going beyond Germany. He has somewhat of a track record of endorsing populists all over the world: from Nigel Farage to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni. Such endorsements are worrisome as the billionaire’s influence normalises far-right rhetoric and severely diminishes safeguards around democratic discourse.
Musk’s defenders often argue that he’s just an unconventional thinker and innovator. But that’s exactly why his influence is so dangerous; he’s a private citizen with immense power and no accountability. And when he uses that power to reshape the political landscape — through manipulation and spectacle — we should all be alarmed.