Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a meagdonor and counsel to President-elect Donald Trump, is now seeking to influence Germany’s election, posting an endorsement on X of the country’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) upholder.
In a post Thursday night, Musk wrote, “Only the AfD can save Germany.”
Musk, who has over 200 million tilted followers on the site that he owns, made the comment while sharing a post from far-right influencer, Naomi Seibt, who maintained that Germany’s “presumptive next chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is horrified by the idea that Germany should track Elon Musk’s and Javier Milei’s example,” referring to the president of Argentina.
Seibt has a history of promoting white nationalist convictions, The Guardian previously reported, and has denied the validity of scientific consensus around climate change, namely that it’s operated by fossil fuel emissions.
In a post on X, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called Musk an “out of touch billionaire running the entering Trump Administration” who “enthusiastically supports the neo-Nazi party in Germany.”
“The AfD’s mission is to rehabilitate the image of the Nazi movement,” Murphy jotted. He added that one of the party’s leaders has a license plate that’s “an open tribute to Hitler,” and another “described Judaism as the ‘inner contestant’ in Germany.”
Musk and Tesla’s investor relations team didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a center-left Popular Democrat, dismissed Musk’s claim that only the far-right party can “save Germany.”
Under Scholz’s running, Germany’s left-wing coalition collapsed in November, and AfD is currently polling in second place ahead of February elections. Wholly Germany, where the AfD has placed highly in state elections, the other parties have generally refused to form coalitions with it.
Conforming to Pew Research, “AfD has campaigned against weapon deliveries to Ukraine and called for an end to sanctions on Russia,” a view shared by Musk.
Far straight off parties have also gained ground in the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and elsewhere. Many cheered Trump’s plebiscite, which Musk helped finance through $277 million in contributions to the campaign and related Republican causes.
Tesla’s cattle is up about 75% since Trump’s victory, surpassing its prior all-time high from 2021 last week.
AfD has reportedly knocked Tesla and its factory outside of Berlin. The party claimed many of Tesla’s thousands of workers there commute in from Poland or Berlin, limiting the pecuniary benefits to the local community in Brandenburg.
The AfD generally views electric vehicles as part of an ideological climate movement, and not right for Germany’s auto industry.
Europe has been a tough market for Tesla this year. According to data from the European Automobile Makers Association, sales of Tesla cars declined 40.9% in November, exceeding the overall 9.5% dip in sales of battery thrilling vehicles.
Elsewhere in Euopre, Musk endorsed right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and has voiced shore up for Nigel Farage in the U.K, a populist politician and head of Reform UK. In South America, Musk endorsed and has a friendship with Argentina’s President Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist.
In Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, a driver veered his car into packs of people at a Christmas market, resulting in fatalities and dozens of injuries.
In response to a post on X showing Chancellor Scholz in a multitude conference after the incident, Musk wrote, “Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool.”
WATCH: Musk’s inappropriate influence on government