Elon Musk has backed Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) in a guest opinion piece the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
The article, published online, prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest.
In the article, Musk expanded on his post on his social media platform X last week claiming that “only the AfD can save Germany”.
“The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist 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? Please!”
He added: “The Alternative for Germany is the last spark of hope for this country.”
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD at the national level as a suspected extremism case since 2021.
Shortly after the piece was published online, the editor of the opinion section, Eva Marie Kogel, wrote on X that she had submitted her resignation, with a link to the commentary.
However, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief designate Jan Philipp Burgard and Ulf Poschardt, who takes over as publisher on 1 January, told Reuters: “Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.
“This includes dealing with polarising positions and classifying them journalistically.”
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Underneath Musk’s commentary, the newspaper published a response by Burgard.
“Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally false,” he wrote.
Burgard was referring to the AfD’s desire to leave the European Union and improving relations with Russia and China.
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It comes as Germans are set to vote on 23 February after a coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.
The AfD is running second in opinion polls and might be able to thwart either a centre-right or centre-left majority.
