German Leaders Slam "Ignorant" Musk For Backing Racist Party

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his deputy, Robert Habeck, used their New Year addresses to criticize Elon Musk for his support of a far-right party ahead of February’s snap election, Iain Rogers reported for Bloomberg News.

Musk has repeatedly praised the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in recent weeks on his social media platform, X. I Photo: Bundesgeirung

Musk, a key adviser and major donor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, has repeatedly praised the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in recent weeks on his social media platform, X.

He elaborated on his support for the party, known by its German acronym AfD, in an opinion piece published over the weekend by the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Scholz, a center-left Social Democrat whom Musk has frequently mocked, did not mention the South African-born entrepreneur by name but emphasized that the Feb. 23 ballot would be decided by German voters, not by the owners of social media platforms.

“One can be forgiven for sometimes thinking that the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it will garner,” Scholz said, according to the text of his address to be televised Tuesday evening.

“But it won’t be the person who yells loudest who decides where Germany goes from here. Rather, it will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.”