The Daily Populous Sunday December 29th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by indig0sixalpha

The tech entrepreneur and close adviser to Donald Trump Elon Musk has taken a stunning new public step in his support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), publishing a supportive guest opinion piece for the country’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest.

The commentary piece in German was launched online on Saturday before being published on Sunday in the flagship paper of the Axel Springer media group, which also owns the US politics news site Politico.

Musk uses populist and personal language to try to deny AfD’s extremist bent, and the essay expands on his post on his social media platform, X, on which he last week claimed that “only the AfD can save Germany”.

Translated, Musk’s piece said: “The portrayal of the AfD as rightwing 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!”

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD at the national level as a suspected extremism case since 2021.

Shortly after the piece was published online, the editor of the opinion section, Eva Marie Kogel, used the US tech mogul’s own platform to post on X that she had submitted her resignation.

“I always enjoyed heading the opinion department at Welt and Wams. Today a text by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. Yesterday I submitted my resignation after printing,” she posted.

View image in fullscreen Alice Weidel of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party speaks at the Bundestag on 16 December 2024 in Berlin. Photograph: Maja Hitij/Getty Images

She included a link to the Musk commentary article.

The AfD has a strong anti-immigration stance and, like incoming president Donald Trump in relation to the US, is calling for mass deportations from Germany. Earlier in December, Musk not only posted in favor of AfD but the party’s hard line on immigration appeared to resonate with the incoming US vice-president, JD Vance, MSNBC reported.

Senior Welt Group figures weighed in on Saturday.

“Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression. This includes dealing with polarising positions and classifying them journalistically,” the newspaper’s editor-in-chief designate, Jan Philipp Burgard, and Ulf Poschardt, who takes over as publisher on 1 January, told Reuters.

They said discussion about Musk’s piece, which had about 340 comments several hours after it was published, was “very revealing”.

Underneath Musk’s commentary, the newspaper published a response by Burgard.

“Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally false,” he wrote, referencing the AfD’s desire to leave the European Union and seek rapprochement with Russia as well as appease China.

Musk and Weidel both later posted a link to the article on X.

The AfD backing from Musk, who also defended his right to weigh in on German politics due to his “significant investments”, comes as Germans are set to vote on 23 February after a coalition government led by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, collapsed late this fall.

The AfD is running second in opinion polls and might be able to thwart either a centre-right or centre-left majority, but Germany’s mainstream, more centrist parties have pledged to shun any support from the AfD at the national level.

Kontrafantastisk on December 28th, 2024 at 17:48 UTC »

He is extraordinary.

A decade ago, I kind of admired his achievements.

5 years ago, I laughed out loud when he spoke. He got more ridiculous by the minute.

I don’t laugh anymore. He is literally the most dangerous person on the planet and he should be dealt with as such.

heavy-minium on December 28th, 2024 at 17:10 UTC »

Americans probably don't catch this on their news, but Musk has been constantly facing issues with regulations in Germany due the past years. He totally hates all those worker rights and similar "wokeness" he encounters in the EU.

ADDMcGee25 on December 28th, 2024 at 17:10 UTC »

Guys, guys, it's okaaay. He just spent a bunch of money! Money means you can do whatever you want with other people's lives! Fuck, I'm gonna puke...