Says AfD Wants “More Self-Determination for Germany”
HALLE: US tech billionaire Elon Musk delivered a video address to a campaign rally of Germany’s anti-immigration AfD party on Saturday, marking his latest show of support ahead of the country’s elections next month.
Musk told a crowd of thousands of AfD supporters in the eastern city of Halle that their party was “the best hope for the future of Germany.”
Musk has attracted criticism from some mainstream leaders, who have accused him of interfering in European politics, particularly with his comments on his social media platform X about politicians in countries like Germany and the UK. He also faced backlash this week for making a public hand gesture that some perceived as resembling a straight-armed Nazi salute.
“The German people are really an ancient nation, which goes back thousands of years,” he said in his Saturday address. “I even read that Julius Caesar was very impressed by the German tribes,” he added, urging the supporters to “fight, fight, fight” for their country’s future.
He also stated that the AfD wanted “more self-determination for Germany and for the countries in Europe, and less from Brussels,” referring to European Union authorities.
Musk is a close associate of US President Donald Trump, who appointed him to head a new department of “government efficiency” within his administration. Like Trump, the AfD opposes immigration, denies climate change, criticizes gender politics, and has declared war on a political establishment and mainstream media they accuse of censorship.
Ahead of Germany’s February 23 elections, the AfD is polling around 20%, a record high for a party that has already broken a long-standing taboo on the far right in post-war Germany. The mainstream conservative CDU/CSU grouping leads with about 30%.
