Naively Falling for Elon Musk

A voting endorsement for far-right extremist AfD: The tech billionaire and key adviser to Donald Trump poses a global security risk.

We grew up with freedom of speech as the foundation of democracy. For some years now, right-wing and far-right extremists have seized that term and tried to push the limits of what can be said under the guise of freedom of speech. During an inquiry in Vienna, the Freedom Party of Austria was concerned about the “end of freedom of speech”; the Alternative for Deutschland is now being suggested by Siri as the first internet entry on the topic “freedom of opinion” — and Elon Musk views himself as a “free speech absolutist.”

In certain circles today, “freedom of speech” is understood to mean that people such as Musk should be able to spread hate, propaganda and global conspiracy myths across the internet. With the ultimate aim of calling democracies into question.

Now, usually this is the point where accusations of cancel culture get thrown around. The left-wing journalists allow only those opinions that they themselves represent. Most right-wingers loudly complain about what they are supposedly no longer allowed to say. But they prefer to voice this criticism on nationally broadcast talk shows.

Trump’s Most Important Adviser

With PayPal, Space X and Tesla, Musk has revolutionized many industries. Now he is U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s key adviser, supporting far-right parties in the U.K. and in Italy. In December he posted on his social platform X that only the AfD could prevent Germany’s decline — a clear case of the outside election interference recently criticized in the U.S. during the election. Now, Musk has taken it to the next level.

Over the weekend, German conservative newspaper Welt am Sonntag published a guest article by Musk, openly declaring the AfD as “the last spark of hope for Germany,” just a few weeks before the election. As do so many others, Musk ignores the right-wing extremist Björn Höcke. “Portraying the AfD as far-right is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Come on!” Musk said.

At this point in the U.S., billionaires have had to buy newspapers in order to print or suppress voting endorsements, as happened recently with The Washington Post when owner and Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos intervened. With Welt owner Axel Springer, none of this is necessary. There, the thinly argued guest article was given space. Welt wrote that the article was “provided” by Musk. The response by the new editor-in-chief, who will take office on Jan. 1, and seems quite a lightweight, compared to the richest man in the world, even though he wrote: “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong.”

Had Welt confronted Musk on his position in a journalistic interview and asked critical questions, it would have had a big scoop. But Welt has been terribly naive and fell for a trap set by the political arsonist.

From admired innovator to global security risk in just a few years: The richest man in the world no longer sees any limits for himself.