LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Elon Musk is getting involved in politics again - this time in Germany. He's endorsed a far-right party there called the Alternative for Germany, or AfD. His public support led a government spokesperson to accuse Musk of trying to influence upcoming elections. Rebecca Collard reports from Berlin.
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PRESIDENT FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER: (Speaking German).
REBECCA COLLARD: When German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced last week that he was dissolving Parliament and clearing the way for early elections, he warned of what he called external influences endangering Germany's democracy. He explicitly mentioned the social media platform X, where Musk had earlier posted his support for the AfD, a party being monitored by Germany's domestic intelligence agency for potential right-wing extremism. The AfD promises to restrict immigration. Its platform says it plans to legally return foreigners to their home countries.
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ALICE WEIDEL: Dear Elon, thank you so much for your note.
COLLARD: Musk's public support prompted this video message from AfD leader, Alice Weidel.
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WEIDEL: The AfD is indeed the one and only alternative for our country - our last option, if you ask me. I wish you and President Donald Trump all the best for the upcoming tenure.
COLLARD: But many here were not so welcoming of the foreign billionaire's entrance. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said German law protects freedom of speech, including what he called bad political advice. Over the weekend, Musk doubled down with an op-ed in a German newspaper, dismissing accusations that the AfD is extremist, pointing to Alice Weidel's same-sex partner of Sri Lankan origin, and asking, does this sound like Hitler to you?
Frederick Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, the party currently polling first in February's elections, called Musk intrusive and pretentious. But in his op-ed, Musk cited his significant investment in Germany, which includes the Tesla gigafactory near Berlin that employs thousands of people.
JACKSON JANES: I don't think he knows much about the AfD.
COLLARD: Jackson Janes is with the German Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan think tank.
JANES: Here's the guy that represents all of the globalistic thinking that has made his career and his life possible, but here is the party that is against that.
COLLARD: At the moment, the AfD are polling second, behind the CDU. Germany's traditional political parties have promised not to form a coalition with the far right.
For NPR News, I'm Rebecca Collard in Berlin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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