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Mara Gergolet, Berlin correspondent
The owner of Tesla retweeted a post by Seibt, YouTube queen of the German right. Already in September 2023 he had called for the end of the “traffic light government” after discovering that Germany was financing rescue operations in the Mediterranean “against the will of the people”
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN-And at the end Elon Musk completes its journey and, also in Germany, supports the AfD. Retweet a post from Naomi Seibt, YouTube starlet of the German rightalso known as the anti-Greta (because she is a climate denier) and writes verbatim: «Only the AfD can save Germany». Not that it was difficult to glimpse Musk’s sympathies for that galaxy, given the distorting and disruptive potential that the far right has (or would have) on the German political organization, but such explicit support – halfway between endorsement and teasing from the very rich, anti-establishment bad boy who can afford to say everything — he arrived for the first time.
AfD candidate: «Musk is right»
Two hours after the post, the reactions are numerous. Meanwhile Alice Weidelthe AfD chancellor candidate, immediately shared Musk’s post, adding: «Yes! You’re absolutely right!’ He then linked to his own interview with Bloomberg, in which he says: «Please watch my interview on President Trumpabout how the socialist Merkel ruined our country, how the Soviet European Union destroyed the economic backbone of Germany and how our country no longer works!
As for the original post that Musk shared, Naomi Seibt, 23, is a far-right political influencer, with 310,000 followers. He is part of that group of young people who are contributing to the success of the AfD among teenagers and young people, where the party is the most followed in the 16-24 age group. In the post, Seibt criticizes the probable next chancellor, the conservative Friedrich Merz (CDU)accusing him of being “horrified at the idea of Germany following the example of Elon Musk and Javier Milei.” Furthermore, he claims that Merz “definitely rejects a libertarian approach and avoids any discussion with the AfD.”
Musk and “globalized politics”
Seibt began to be interested in politics with the arrival of the Syrians in Germany, and then became a climate denier, or rather an activist, participating in deniers’ conferences and propagating these theses. She has formulated her own anti-woke, anti-climate change, anti-migrant, anti-establishment ideological base that has made her famous among a small but influential (and even dominant in some age groups) circuit of political influencers. As for Musk, while in recent days he is directing his powerful social media machine to push for a US government shutdown (blocking federal budgets), it is now clear to Europeans too that he will not stand idly by looking across the Atlantic. As with the digital economy, he understood the power and ease of globalized politics and the exportability of its platform to various countries. It has built a powerful social machine, while national parties are local, slow, analogue and not very digital.
The rest is done by his megalomania, his interests and the absolute sense of the bet. In Italy he is on the side of the government, in England he allies himself with Nigel Farage, with the dream of bringing about an epochal change in the Tory/Labour dynamic. In Germany he finds the almost paradigmatic model of what he hates: the State and public affairs, well beyond the bureaucracy that hampers its business, and which in Germany is exasperating even for the Germans.
But there’s more to these German episodes. In September 2023, Musk had already asked the end of the “traffic light” governmentafter discovering that Germany was financing rescue operations in the Mediterranean, a choice that — according to a survey he cited — went against the will of citizens. «When a democratic government acts against the will of the people, it should be removed».
«Olaf Sholz? “Un follow”
After the fall of the coalition in November, Musk had defined the chancellor Olaf Scholz and “folle” and had attacked Angela Merkelgoing so far as to wonder who he was. But the AfD in Germany is another story. It is difficult to say how much Musk knows it, having shown gaps in his historical knowledge, or humanistic sensibilities, as emerged when he spoke about Ukraine. The AfD maintains an ambiguous relationship with the Nazi past, which modern Germany has instead rejected. German democracy and the post-war economic miracle were built precisely on the rejection of totalitarianism. For this reason, in the perception of the majority of Germans, the AfD is a dangerous party. Furthermore, Weidel’s AfD shows sympathy for Putin and a not-so-disguised fascination with authoritarianism. Musk has made it clear that he will not stand by and watch. Germany is a symbol of that “liberal” world and of public consultation that he considers outdated. We will vote in two months. The car is ready and the show is just beginning. Add to this Putin’s troll armies, who could adopt techniques already tested in Romania against Berlin. For Germany it will be an electoral campaign different from those of the past, also conducted by actors who do not even have citizenship in Germany.
December 20, 2024 (changed December 20, 2024 | 12:03)
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