American billionaire Elon Musk endorsed the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in an opinion piece for the German newspaper Sonntag World newspaper published online on Saturday, prompting the comment’s editor to resign in protest.
In the commentary, published in German by media group Axel Springer’s flagship newspaper, Musk expanded on his post on social media platform X last week by stating that “only the AfD can save Germany.”
“The description of AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk said in the article.
Germany’s national intelligence agency has classified the AfD nationwide as a suspected case of extremism since 2021.
Shortly after the article was published online, opinion section editor Eva Marie Kogel wrote on X that she had resigned, with a link to the comment.
“Democracy and journalism thrive thanks to freedom of expression. This includes addressing polarizing positions and classifying them journalistically,” said the newspaper’s designated editor-in-chief, Jan Philipp Burgard, and Ulf Poschardt, who will take over as editor-in-chief on January 1. Reuters.
They said the discussion on Musk’s article, which had about 340 comments several hours after it was published, was “very insightful.” Below Musk’s comment, the newspaper published a response from Burgard.
“Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally false,” he wrote, referring to the AfD’s desire to leave the European Union and seek rapprochement with Russia, as well as appease China.
The AfD’s endorsement of Musk, who also defended his right to influence German politics due to his “significant investments”, comes as Germans will vote on February 23 after the collapse of a coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. .
The AfD is second in opinion polls and could thwart a center-right or center-left majority, but Germany’s main, more centrist parties have vowed to avoid any AfD support at the national level.
