German officials chided Elon Musk on Monday for backing the country’s Alternative fur Deutschland party.
Musk endorsed the AfD earlier this month, immediately garnering backlash from left-wing critics who alleged that the German party is a radical right-wing Neo-Nazi group.
During a press conference Monday, top German officials took aim at Musk, condemning him for the “greatest nonsense” and “trying to influence the federal election.”
Christiane Hoffmann, a spokeswoman for the German government, said Musk’s endorsement of the AfD was “a recommendation to vote for a party that is being monitored [by domestic intelligence] on suspicion of being right-wing extremist” and “which has already been recognized as partly right-wing extremist.”
The German government is currently headed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a member of the left-wing Social Democratic Party. Musk has called on him to resign.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is also a member of the SPD, joined Hoffmann in criticizing Musk’s outspoken support for the AfD as “undignified and highly problematic.”
The SPD’s condemnation of Musk comes as Germany prepares to hold critical elections on Feb. 23, 2025. The new elections are slated for seven months earlier than previously planned after Scholz lost a crucial vote of confidence from the German Parliament on Dec. 16.
With the SPD’s popularity slipping amid concerns about the country’s economy, the AfD has emerged as a formidable political opponent.
Musk has argued the AfD’s populist take on immigration could help Germany rebound after taking in a historic number of refugees, many of them under former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “open door” policy. The ally of President-elect Donald Trump took to X earlier this month to support the AfD, and he further backed the party Saturday in an op-ed published in Welt am Sonntag, arguing it could power economic recovery.
“The AfD has understood that economic freedom is not just desirable, but necessary. Its approach of reducing government over-regulation, cutting taxes and deregulating the market reflects the principles that made Tesla and SpaceX successful,” he wrote.
“If Germany wants to regain its industrial strength, it needs a party that doesn’t just talk about growth, but also takes policy action to create an environment where companies can thrive without heavy government intervention,” he added.
Musk also rebuked characterizations of the AfD as a Nazi-leaning group as “clearly false.”
“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 said of AfD leader Alice Weidel.
After the op-ed was released, Lars Klingbeil, the SPD’s co-leader, compared Musk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “Both want to influence our elections and are deliberately supporting the AfD, the enemies of democracy.”
“They want Germany to be weakened and plunge into chaos,” Klingbeil told German newspaper Funke Mediengruppe on Monday, later adding he supported restricting the use of X, the social media platform Musk owns, in Germany.
“We need to be much more proactive and effectively limit the power of the large internet platforms like Musk’s short message service, X. Here, a tech billionaire is trying to use his influence to influence the course of world politics,” he said.
The owner of X and SpaceX and the CEO of Tesla, Musk has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in U.S. politics and, more recently, international affairs.
After voting for Democrats for years, Musk switched political allegiances in July to endorse Trump for a second term in office, citing the Republican’s bravery in the face of an assassination attempt.
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After winning the election, Trump tapped Musk to co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, a nomination he has used to accrue growing influence within the incoming Republican administration.
Besides speaking out about his preferences for Germany’s next political party, Musk has reportedly weighed donating $100 million to Great Britain’s Nigel Farage, who is leading a populist movement in the country.