Elon Musk seems to be running a campaign of support for far-right political parties in Europe, extending his influence beyond electoral processes and regional discussions in the United States and Latin America. On January 9, Musk met Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel, providing her a precious platform to promote the party’s views ahead of a crucial election set for late February.
While the AfD has attempted to publicly rebrand itself as a “conservative libertarian” party, its program firmly positions it on the extreme right of the political spectrum. At a recent party meeting, the AfD endorsed the idea of the mass deportation of migrants from Germany, a stance that also lingered in Weidel’s conversation with Musk. They sought to link immigration numbers to crime rates in both the US and Germany, even claiming that, due to immigration, “theft is legal in California” and that “a pile of documents” lies discarded by migrants from Latin America at the US-Mexico border.
Weidel also pointed to a new direction of energy policy in case the AfD comes into power, shifting towards nuclear power and away from renewable energy sources, which she sees as an unwanted legacy of Angela Merkel’s administration. “You don’t have to be very smart to understand that you cannot run an industrial country on just wind and solar,” Weidel commented on the path chosen by Merkel and pursued since then. If you don’t understand that, she smirked, “are you just stupid or do you hate your country?”
Identity over industrial politics
Weidel and Musk minimized the role of weakened social protection systems in Europe in driving poverty and reducing the quality of life for the working class. Instead, they considered further attacks on public funds, advocating for tax cuts that would primarily benefit the wealthy, including individuals like Musk, while harming workers. This is unsurprising, given Weidel’s professional history at Goldman Sachs. Similarly, when Weidel criticized the state of Germany’s education system, it was hardly unexpected that the AfD’s first instinct does not involve improving working conditions or increasing investment in public education. Instead, their focus is on eradicating so-called “wokeism” from schools.
In fact, throughout the conversation, there was no substantial analysis—none whatsoever—of the working and living conditions of Germany’s workers. This glaring omission is particularly ironic given the AfD’s efforts to portray itself as the party of Germany’s disenfranchised and the recent industrial unrest at key sites across the country. Instead, the party’s solutions rests on simplistic ideas: implying that throwing gender studies from schools or migrants out of the country would resolve deep-rooted issues caused by neoliberalism.
Weidel’s reinvention of Hitler
Improbably, the discussion on identity politics was not the most bewildering moment of the interview. That came when Weidel came to the conclusion that Adolf Hitler had been mischaracterized as a far-right figure and was, in fact, “a communist.” While Europe struggles with revisionism—where mainstream governments try to equate the crimes of the Nazi Party with efforts to build socialism in the region—it is generally acknowledged that Hitler was decidedly not a communist, seeing that he systematically persecuted and imprisoned communists, alongside Jews, Roma, and LGBT groups, in concentration camps.
Weidel’s claim is mind-boggling on multiple levels, not least because she has previously demonstrated personal reverence for the legacy of Nazi Germany. In 2023, she refused to participate in a liberation ceremony, describing the event as a commemoration of her country’s “defeat.”
Read more: Germany lurches further to the right
While much of the interview centered on typical far-right talking points—skepticism toward so-called green policies, identity politics, and, yes, the claim that Hitler was a communist—there was also a hint of what might truly motivate Musk’s recent European endeavors. When discussing the genocide in Gaza, Tesla’s CEO highlighted what he considers crucial to ending the war and “ensuring Israel is safe”: enabling the Palestinians who haven’t been killed to live in “prosperity,” although under occupation. Musk sees this outcome as inextricably tied to rebuilding efforts, which, naturally, must be executed by someone. Judging from recent examples of post-conflict development and early signals from the new EU Commission for Mediterranean Affairs, it’s possible that Musk anticipates Western entrepreneurs like himself will play a central role in this recovery—and they could expect enormous financial gain in the process.
This sidenote of the Weidel-Musk conversation likely foreshadows the trajectory of new alliances between the European far-right and global capital. As even Steve Bannon recently remarked, Musk’s “only goal is to become a trillionaire”. In that context, having a strong connection to influential political parties in the region definitely helps.
“He will do anything to ensure that each of his companies is protected, gets a better deal, or makes more money,” Bannon told the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera. “I support his involvement with far-right movements in Europe—I hope he writes checks and gives them a platform,” he added.
Regardless of whether Musk could ever play a formal role in a potential AfD-led administration similar to his involvement in Trump’s upcoming government, his backing of far-right parties in Europe is already exacting a toll. It further promotes policies that prioritize profit over the needs of people who have endured decades of austerity and urgently require a shift away from such destructive policies.