Elon Musk Supports While Holding Talks with German Far-Right Leader

"I strongly recommend voting for AfD"
Claims arise in Germany that Musk is unaware of AfD's true nature
"AfD has strongly opposed the Tesla factory"

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, held a conversation with the far-right German Alternative for Germany (AfD) party leader about a month before the German federal election.

On the 9th (local time), Musk spoke with Alice Weidel, co-chair of AfD, in a 75-minute live broadcast on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "I strongly recommend voting for AfD," and added, "I think Weidel is a very reasonable person. She will not make absurd proposals."

Recalling the time when he built a Tesla factory in Germany, Musk criticized German bureaucracy, mentioning printing 25,000 documents, and emphasized, "Only AfD can save Germany." On the 28th of last month, Musk also stirred controversy over political interference by publishing an article supporting AfD in a German weekly magazine, calling AfD "the last spark of hope for this country."

Weidel stated, based on the nationalization of industrial facilities by the Nazis, that "Adolf Hitler was not a conservative but a socialist and communist." German media have rebutted this claim as a typical New Right historical revisionism.

Within Germany, there are claims that Musk supports AfD without understanding its true nature. AfD advocates for national prioritization and is friendly to fossil fuels, which led it to strongly oppose the Tesla factory in Brandenburg. The AfD Brandenburg branch criticized the factory's establishment, saying, "Musk is now trying to implant chips in people's heads after electric cars." The factory expansion plan promoted by Tesla also faced opposition votes from the local council along with left-wing parties.