Keystone-SDA
A column by Elon Musk published on Saturday by Welt am Sonntag, in which the American billionaire reaffirms and justifies his support for the German far-right party AfD, led to the resignation of an editor-in-chief of the conservative newspaper.
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December 28, 2024 – 9:34 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) “Today, a text by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. Yesterday, I submitted my resignation after printing,” said Eva Marie Kogel, head of editorial content, on X, a platform owned by Elon Musk.
The latter reaffirms in this column that “the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last glimmer of hope for this country”, which according to him is “on the verge of economic and cultural collapse”.
The AfD, not on the far right
This close friend of President-elect Donald Trump praises the party’s “controlled immigration policy”, its economic objectives of “reducing taxes” and even “deregulating the market”.
The classification of the AfD as far-right “is clearly false”, says Elon Musk, relying on the fact that its leader Alice Weidel “has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka”.
“Danger for our values and our economy”
In the column, the richest man in the world is however contradicted by the new editor-in-chief of Die Welt, Jan Philipp Burgard, for whom “even a genius can make a mistake”.
The AfD “is a danger for our values and our economy,” says the journalist, recalling that another leader of the party, Björn Höcke, “has been condemned several times for using a banned Nazi slogan.”
This cross-post follows a controversial tweet published on December 20 by Elon Musk, in which he wrote that “only the AfD” could “save Germany”.
This declaration created unease in the country in the middle of the campaign for the early elections in February. The AfD is credited with an average of 19% of voting intentions in the polls.
Indignant reactions
In addition to Ms. Kogel’s resignation, Elon Musk’s pro-AfD column once again sparked outraged reactions.
“We must not allow the Elon Musks of this world, the Chinese state or the Russian troll factories to undermine our democracies in Europe,” criticized Andreas Audretsch, campaign director of the Greens.
The Association of German Journalists (DJV) protested against the “election advertising” permitted by the editorial staff of Die Welt.
“The German media must not allow themselves to be manipulated as the mouthpiece of autocrats and their friends,” criticizes its leader Mika Beuster.
Die Welt belongs to the Axel Springer press group, the most influential in Germany, which also includes the tabloid Bild, the country’s most widely read.
