Musk’s support for the far right in Germany is part of a bigger plan that threatens eight decades of progress
The tech billionaire is meddling in elections across Europe, and his latest move to support the AfD is proof he is determined to undermine democracy in a country that knows better than any what far-right dictatorship can bring, writes John Kampfner
As Germans headed into a year gripped by foreboding, I was reminded of an episode a decade ago that struck me then as absurd, and that now makes me marvel at its prescience.
I was chairing a conference about the internet in Berlin, sponsored by Google, when one of the participants suggested that the German government should establish a public internet company. Silicon Valley, she proffered earnestly, was the preserve of the American super-rich and could not be trusted to tell the truth or preserve democracy.
I scoffed at the idea, though I was too polite to say so. Half of her analysis was, and still is, impossibly quaint and ridiculous. The notion of the state being relied upon to provide an online platform for comment and information – in the very country of Goebbels and the Stasi – stretches credulity. But I must admit that the speaker foresaw the malignancy of the likes of Elon Musk far earlier than I, or anyone I know, ever did.
Musk is driving a sledgehammer through politics in Germany, at its most sensitive moment, and he is basking in the fear he is stoking. The more colourful his insults become (delivered via X, his personal fiefdom), the more outraged the political class becomes. Which is his objective, and that of his boss, Donald Trump.
Where better to undermine democracy than in a country that obsesses about constitutional propriety?
Musk labelled Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, “an incompetent fool”. In another post, he labelled him “Olaf Schitz”. He has sprayed denunciations of all the other mainstream parties. But it was his most recent attack on the head of state, president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that has caused the most offence, calling the supposed custodian of democracy “an anti-democratic tyrant”.
In theory, they all have the right to sue him. German law weighs freedom of expression against the right not to be insulted in public. The criminal code contains an entire category of “crimes of honour”, incorporating insults, slander, defamation and the propagation of false statements that cause harm, financial losses or emotional distress.
All of which would play perfectly into the hands of Musk and his self-proclaimed battle for “free speech”. In any case, any fine would make an infinitesimally small dent in his pocketbook.
What is far more dangerous is Musk’s open support for the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). With the party running second in the opinion polls ahead of the 23 February general election, his endorsement in the pages of the usually respectable conservative newspaper Welt am Sonntag of the AfD and all it stands for – remigration, ethno-based nationalism and Europhobia – matters. Not because of Musk’s political perspicacity but because of his hold on social media.
The richest man in the world has a political and economic agenda in Germany. In his newspaper commentary a few days ago, he praised the AfD for its plans to “reduce government overregulation, lower taxes and deregulate the market”. A Tesla plant in the region of Brandenburg, east of Berlin, is his first electric car factory in Europe and would benefit from any deregulation.
“The Alternative for Germany is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary.
He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”.
Musk’s commentary quickly led to the resignation of the newspaper’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, while Lars Klingbeil, the chair of Scholz’s Social Democrats, who are trailing far behind in third, accused Musk of wanting to “plunge Germany into chaos”, comparing him to Vladimir Putin. “Both want to influence our elections and specifically support the AfD’s enemies of democracy,” Klingbeil said.
The less sanguine scenario is that Musk is tapping into a latent frustration with liberal democracy in Germany, just as he and Trump are doing in the UK
Both Scholz and Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the man most likely to succeed him at the chancellery, have criticised Musk. But they have chosen their words carefully. “You, the citizens, decide what happens in Germany,” Scholz said in his new year’s address. “It’s not up to the owners of social media.”
Their measured tones mask a growing sense of alarm. The terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg demonstrated continued vulnerability to such incidents – although nobody is immune, as the latest attack in New Orleans attests. It also opened the door to yet more denunciations of immigrants, of “the other”.
And Germany, of all places, knows where such hostility can lead.
The AfD may have edged up a percentage point or so, but it remains at 20 per cent – a still-remarkable achievement. The CDU remains above 30 per cent, while the SPD, Greens and others languish.
A “firewall” agreed upon by the main parties remains in place, ensuring no cooperation or coalition discussions with the AfD or other extremist groupings at national level, though locally that has started to fray.
The optimistic scenario is that German voters are no more disposed to American entrepreneurs telling them what to do than they were a decade ago, and that Musk’s cosying up to the AfD will make little difference. The most likely election outcome remains a Merz/CDU coalition together with either the SPD or Greens or both.
The less sanguine one is that Musk is tapping into a latent frustration with liberal democracy in Germany, just as he and Trump are doing in the UK, with their support for Nigel Farage, and in France, with Marine Le Pen.
Germans are already petrified at the prospect of Trump’s inauguration in a fortnight’s time. The question then is how far the 47th President of the United States, a title that used to carry the tag of “leader of the free world”, will be prepared to go to undermine democracy in the country that knows better than any what far-right dictatorship can bring?
As election campaigns in Germany tend to spring the odd surprise, there is ample time for Musk and his ilk to damage a liberal democracy that over the last eight decades has been so painstakingly built.
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