Vice President-elect JD Vance took to X to call an op-ed by Elon Musk in Die Welt explaining his support for the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) “interesting.”
Musk shared a post on X by Martin Varsavsky, who posted what he said was the article submitted by Musk to the German paper. The AfD is a far-right populist, eurosceptic party that opposes immigration and has called for mass deportations.
The article, entitled Only the AfD Can Save Germany, outlines Musk’s belief that “As someone who has invested significantly in Germany’s industrial and technological landscape, I believe I have earned the right to speak candidly about its political direction.”
Sharing the article, Vance wrote: “I’m not endorsing a party in the German elections, as it’s not my country and we hope to have good relations with all Germans. But this is an interesting piece.”
“Also interesting; American media slanders AfD as Nazi-lite, but AfD is most popular in the same areas of Germany that were most resistant to the Nazis,” he claimed.
Nineteen percent of German adults have a positive view of the AfD, according to the Pew Research Center.
Musk highlighted a number of issues in his op-ed that he claimed Germany must address to avoid “economic and cultural collapse.”
A commentary editor at the paper resigned in protest at Musk’s op-ed and the German government said Monday that Musk was trying to influence the country’s election set for next month, The Hill noted.
Germany’s ambassador to the U.S., Andreas Michaelis, said on Bluesky that Vance’s observation was “interesting.”
“Historical context can be tricky – while some areas you are referring to resisted the Nazi party early on, others did not, or later became strongholds of the regime. Germany’s history reminds us how important it is to challenge extremism in all its forms,” he said.
Musk initially shared his support for the AfD in December and he has called for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to step down. Ahead of the election on February 23, the AfD remains the second most popular party in Germany, but all major parties in the country have rejected the possibility of joining a coalition government with the AfD.
Christiane Hoffmann, a spokesperson for the German government said during a briefing Monday that “It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election through his statement.”
She added that “freedom of expression also includes the greatest nonsense.”
