Elon Musk intervenes verbosely in the upcoming federal election. According to the Tesla boss, only the AfD can save Germany. He also insulted Chancellor Scholz after the attack. Now SPD leader Klingbeil is reacting and criticizing his statements as an attempt to destabilize Germany.
The SPD sees US billionaire Elon Musk's recommendation to vote for the AfD as an “attack on German democracy”. “It must worry every democrat if Putin and Musk interfere in the German election campaign at the same time,” said SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil to the “Tagesspiegel”: “The fact that both are committed to the AfD speaks for itself.”
Klingbeil said: Musk's post shows “that we have to prepare for a tough election campaign: not only in our own country against lies and agitation from the AfD, but also from actors outside who attack German democracy and want to destabilize our country.”
According to “Tagesspiegel,” SPD member of the Bundestag Axel Schäfer described Musk’s comment as “completely unacceptable.” “We are very close to the Americans, but now bravery in front of our friend is required. We ask for no interference in our election campaign,” said Schäfer. Germany stands for a “rules-based, liberal democracy,” but Musk wants the opposite. “He wants an authoritarian, illiberal state run by billionaires,” the SPD politician told the newspaper.
US billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk wrote on his platform X on Friday: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” He used it to spread a post from an influencer close to the AfD. AfD leader Alice Weidel then thanked him. Musk, who is also the head of other US companies, had previously expressed sympathy for the AfD, which is classified as a suspected right-wing extremist case.
The entrepreneur, who was appointed government advisor by the future US President Donald Trump, has been commenting on the policies of the US government, as well as numerous governments in Europe, via X for some time now. He uses the online service that he bought two years ago to spread his anti-migrant messages and conspiracy stories worldwide.
Musk insults Scholz
Musk had also insulted Chancellor Olaf Scholz and called for his resignation. “Scholz should resign immediately,” Musk wrote on X in a series of posts about what happened in Magdeburg. And added: “incompetent fool”. Musk also shared a user's comment who described the incident as a direct result of unregulated “mass immigration.”
Scholz had stated that there was freedom of expression in Germany and that this also applies to multi-billionaires. “But freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain good political advice.”
At least two people were killed and at least 60 other people were injured in the attack in Magdeburg on Friday evening. The police arrested a doctor from Saudi Arabia who had been living in Germany since 2006 as the suspected perpetrator.
