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.

    • @[email protected]
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      1356 minutes 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”

  • @Zoldyck
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    442 hours ago

    Elon Musk is a danger to democracy all over the world

  • @Supervisor194
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    92 hours 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
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      91 hour 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
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      41 hour 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.

  • @givesomefucks
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    944 hours 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
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    4 hours 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.

    • @[email protected]
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      4 hours ago

      I think the real problem is that most parties in Germany that held some power in the last decades did little to nothing to actually improve the economic situation of the “normal” people. For many it stayed the same, for many others it declined significantly starting with Corona and then with the energy crisis that contributed heavily to the inflation.

      Paired with us being one of the few nations that raise no taxes at all on wealth but just on income the disparity between the rich and the poor is growing. So people have only the parties that haven’t held power yet to turn to.

      I think it’s at least partially some weird form of misplaced hope that something will change for the better in the chaos that would be a AfD government.

      But you are correct, supporting the AfD is directly benefiting Nazis. And while I don’t think that all AfD supporters will always be Nazis, they currently are.

  • Lucy :3
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    1045 hours ago

    Nazi supporting Nazi also supports other Nazis.

  • @[email protected]
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    11 hour ago

    I can see how people might get a bit NIMBY about islamic terrorism. But he doesn’t even live there, man idk

    • InfiniteGlitch
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      56 minutes ago

      So in the news article from OP this was written;

      Late on Friday, after at least two people were killed and scores wounded in a suspected terror attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, Musk doubled down, tweeting: “Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool.”

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

      I can see how people might get a bit NIMBY about islamic terrorism.

      But the thing about that is, news come out that the person who did the terrorist attack on the Christmas Market is anti-islam, pro-israel and pro-Wilders (leader of the Far-Right PVV Dutch party).

      1. What we know about the suspect behind the German Christmas market attack;
      2. Suspect in Magdeburg market attack is pro-AfD Saudi doctor

      From article 1;

      Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

      From article 2:

      “The real hero is this man,” he added, quoting a tweet from Geert Wilders, the far-Right Dutch politician, that read: “Islam is a lie. Mohammed is a criminal. The Koran is poison.”

      The man suspected of driving a car into a Christmas market in Germany is an exiled Saudi doctor who praised far-Right politicians for combating the “Islamisation” of Europe and pledged to take “revenge” for the “harassment” of female refugees.

      In one tweet he wrote: “I have to admit that I was deceived by western Leftists. I thought they welcome refugees because they care for human rights. But my experience in Germany showed me that they welcome refugees because they want to Islamise Europe.”

      He also voiced support for Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson and Alternative for Germany, the far-right anti-immigration party.

      I think that’s enough quotes from the article to show, he’s immensely anti-islam. So, I’m confused as to why Musk blames Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

      • @[email protected]
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        254 minutes ago

        That is a bizarre twist… So a former Muslim who now hates Islam wants to pose as an islamic terrorist, hoping nobody finds out he’s anti-islam afterwards, I just don’t understand his plan. If he’s right about the state of islamic terrorism (which I wouldn’t know since I don’t live there) he shouldn’t have to contribute to it for people to notice

  • InfiniteGlitch
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    5 hours 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
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      174 hours 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…