Musk tells Germans to get over ‘past guilt’ in speech to far-right AfD rally

 

Foreign Affairs

Musk tells Germans to get over ‘past guilt’ in speech to far-right AfD rally

 

The tech billionaire and Trump adviser has drawn rebukes for repeatedly endorsing the AfD in the leadup to Germany’s snap election next month.

 

By Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing

01/25/2025 05:54 PM EST

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/25/musk-german-afd-rally-weidel-00200620

 

Elon Musk made a virtual appearance at a rally for the far-right Alternative for Germany party on Saturday, reiterating his support ahead of the country’s Feb. 23 snap election and telling the crowd that it’s time to “move on” from “past guilt.”

 

The Tesla CEO addressed the crowd alongside party leader Alice Weidel, saying that the party is the “best hope for Germany” and calling to “preserve German culture” and “protect the German people.”

 

“Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents,” Musk said, seemingly referencing the country’s history with the Nazi party.

 

“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” Musk added, to cheers from the crowd of some 4,500 people.

 

Musk’s initial endorsement of the AfD last month drew strong rebukes, including from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who said the tech billionaire’s support of the far-right “endangers” European democracy. Musk has recently thrown his support behind multiple far-right European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Reform U.K. Party leader Nigel Farage (though he subsequently turned on Farage, saying he “doesn’t have what it takes”).

 

The billionaire entrepreneur also spent over a quarter of a billion dollars in the 2024 election cycle to get Donald Trump elected president and was rewarded with an influential position leading the new Department of Government Efficiency.

 

Musk, a close adviser to the president, made waves on Monday during Trump’s inauguration celebrations after making a stiff-armed salute that critics were quick to liken to the Nazi “Sieg Heil.”

 

But Musk brushed off the comparisons, first saying that “radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi,” and then proceeding to post a series of Nazi-themed puns.

 

Earlier this month, Musk and Weidel, who is running for chancellor, held a free-wheeling and effusive discussion on Musk’s X platform, covering topics ranging from “future Martians” to God — and Adolf Hitler. During their chat, Musk asked Weidel to respond to allegations that the AfD is associated with Hitler’s Nazi party. The chancellor candidate responded by calling the Nazi leader a “communist socialist guy,” and arguing the AfD is “exactly the opposite.”

 

On Saturday, Weidel thanked Musk for his support, adding: “Make Germany great again!”