Alice, Elon, and Aliens:

Elon Musk made waves last December with a tweet proclaiming “Only the AfD can save Germany”.

The party in question, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), was a hot topic in the Twitterverse as users sought to learn more about this Teutonic savior-apparent. Several days later, Musk doubled down on his stance in a guest piece for Welt am Sonntag, a Sunday newspaper, calling the AfD the country’s “last spark of hope”. The commentary triggered widespread outrage in Germany, with Eva Marie Kogel, the paper’s opinion editor, resigning in protest of its publication.

Musk’s clear endorsement of the AfD came amid campaigning for snap elections on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left government. Polls put the AfD in a distant, but solid, second place, garnering 22% of the vote and trailing Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) 31%. In a further display of his support, Musk announced a live-streamed conversation on X with Alice Weidel, AfD co-chairwoman. On January 9, X users were invited to a “conversation with the leading candidate to run Germany” that ultimately drew a peak audience of more than 200,000 listeners.

The exchange opened with Weidel asserting that Angela Merkel ruined Germany with her open border policies and her crusade against nuclear energy. Musk posited that the AfD is looking for “sensible” migration and energy solutions, an adjective he used throughout the conversation. The chat subsequently shifted to the AfD’s desire to reduce bureaucracy, lower taxes, and eliminate what Weidel calls the “woke-ish, socialist, leftist education policy” dominating German schools". Musk and Weidel directly linked higher crime rates in their countries to migratory influxes, with the X owner claiming that people support Donald Trump because they want change. He encouraged Germans to create their own change, arguably by voting AfD.

Weidel commented on the refreshing discussion of policy without “liberal media bias”, accusations that her party is extreme, or comparisons with Nazis. She, instead, asserted that Adolf Hitler was a socialist who was jealous of Jews and, therefore, would have been anti-AfD. She then asked Musk what “his administration” would do to end war in Ukraine. After a short stammer, Musk wisely deferred to Trump. From there, the conversation took a bizarre turn towards the future of life on Mars before Weidel used valuable air time to ask her host if he believes in aliens, and then God (no, and maybe).

The goal of this occasionally absurdist conversation remains unclear, but it was likely not to convince Germans to vote for the AfD. For starters, the discussion was in English with no German translation. In addition, Musk is almost as polarizing a figure as Weidel in some German circles given the backlash to a Tesla factory in Brandenburg, just outside Berlin, and his derogatory comments about German politicians on X. The AfD, meanwhile, has been under investigation by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency for years, and the party writ large has been labeled a case of “suspected far-right extremism”. This designation has not dented the AfD’s showing in the polls; in fact, it has boosted the party’s appeal among certain groups. Even so, Musk would have a difficult time convincing Germans that a group known for using Nazi slogans during rallies isn’t radical (even if Hitler was a “socialist”, as Weidel claims).

Musk’s angle, aside from an ongoing desire to normalize far-right views, likely has more to do with his close proximity to Trump and his unofficial role as “First Buddy”. This relationship was on full display at Trump’s inauguration. Musk was spotted in the West Wing with a blue “all access” badge before Trump’s inaugural address, where he was seated directly behind the Trump family. Following the ceremony, Musk delivered a speech at Trump’s inaugural rally, where he thanked supporters for assuring “the future of civilization”. The tech giant closed his speech by emphatically clapping his right hand over his chest and thrusting his arm straight out, a gesture perceived by many as a reference to the Nazi salute.

Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are currently in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street from the White House, but it is rumored that he will also receive space in the West Wing—leaving him just steps away from Trump. As someone with the ear of the president, Musk is sending a signal to Germany’s mainstream parties that he will be a factor in determining the country’s future relationship with the United States. This may prompt members of the CDU in particular to take a harsher stance on topics of mutual interest, such as migration, or to undermine EU solidarity and offer Trump concessions to avoid a trade war.

It remains highly unlikely that the AfD will be anywhere near the seat of power following the upcoming elections, but Musk’s support of the party has given it a platform that no amount of campaign funds could buy. It may also mean that Musk will encourage Trump to make inroads with the AfD and circumvent whoever governs in Berlin, making the First Buddy a powerful player on- and offline.

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