Elon Musk endorses Alice Weidel’s vision for Western Civilization.
Over the last few months, Elon Musk has voiced strong support for the nationalist right-wing party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD). One of many posts by Musk on his social media platform, X, reads: “The traditional political parties in Germany have utterly failed the people. AfD is the only hope for Germany.” The world’s richest man, now spearheading DOGE in the Trump administration, has devoted himself to the cause of a traditionally obscure German political party. Musk’s support for AfD reflects one of his chief goals in life: the preservation and flourishing of Western Civilization.
On Jan. 25, 2025, Musk made a surprise virtual appearance at an AfD rally with party leader Alice Weidel and emphasized the party’s nationalistic ethos. “Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents,” Musk said. “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.” AfD has accused the political establishment of letting collective memory of the Nazi regime dominate its politics and debates over multiculturalism. Weidel criticized the centrist parties of being in a “guilt cult” that “politically instrumentalizes” the Holocaust.
AfD is a controversial actor in German politics, noted for its Euroscepticism and strong anti-immigration views. Opponents have characterized the party as being Pro-Russian, xenophobic, and antisemitic. The party has traditionally been shunned by the centrist, pro-European Union parties that dominate German politics. All of these parties have refused to form coalitions with the party, forming what has been termed a “firewall” against the “far-right”.
Musk has bought into Alice Weidel’s, vision for the party, to maintain the party’s nationalistic roots while embracing liberal economics and emphasizing a commitment to civil liberties. Musk has frequently criticized European hate speech laws and claimed American Democrats were a threat to free speech in his endorsement of Donald Trump.
In the weeks leading up to the election Musk frequently posted about immigration issues, specifically migrant crime. Immigration is the AfD’s signature issue, and it pledges to end irregular immigration and further repatriation efforts if elected. Citing rises in Islamic extremism within the country, AfD has identified Muslim immigration as a “danger to our state, our society, and our values”. Musk clearly sees political Islam and migrant crime as major threats to Western Civilization, as seen by his numerous posts about the Rotherham grooming gang scandal.
On Feb. 23, 2025, Germany held a snap general election following the dissolution of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ majority government. Germany is currently facing economic stagnation and Scholz’s coalition government fell apart as a result of disagreements over debt management with the Free Democratic Party, a junior coalition member. Germany is the political and economic lynchpin of the European Union, and its stances on crucial issues such as immigration and the Russo-Ukrainian war play an important role in shaping the future of the European continent. Germany is the second biggest pole of Western Civilization after the United States, and Musk believes its future will shape the future of the West.
AfD’s commitment to German nationalism is controversial considering Germany’s dark history with far-right, ethnic nationalist politics. Some party leaders have faced accusations of being sympathetic to the Nazi regime. For example, regional leader Bjorn Hocke controversially derided Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial as a “monument of shame” and was fined for breaking German laws against using Nazi slogans. Party leader Alice Weidel has disavowed AfD’s far-right reputation, and affirmed the party’s platform as being one of economic liberalism, free speech, and democracy. Weidel has cited her own personal life in attempting to moderate her party’s hardline conservative reputation. Weidel is in a same-sex relationship with a woman from Sri Lanka.
In the end, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won a plurality with 28.5 percent of the vote, and AfD came second with 20.8 percent. Although AfD doubled their percentage of the vote in the 2021 election, their result was consistent with polling before Musk began his blitz of support for the party.
Germany will now enter the process of forming a coalition government as no party achieved a majority of seats in the Bundestag. Merz has suggested that the CDU aims to maintain the “firewall” and form a ‘grand’ coalition government with the third largest voting block, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
“We have received a clear governing mandate, and we accept it,” Merz said. “Looking at the Bundestag seat distribution, we are in a position to form a black-red coalition — and that is precisely what we intend to do.”
Despite Musk’s heavy support for AfD, his mission to establish a hardline right-wing government in Germany seems to have failed. Nevertheless, the party has gained unprecedented support both at home and abroad. If Germany’s political “establishment” continues to bleed support, and a powerful Trump administration maintains its vocal support for AfD, perhaps Musk will achieve his goal in Germany over the next decade.
Musk clearly sees lowering birth rates, immigration, and free speech restrictions as an existential threat to Western Civilization, and he has lended unprecedented support to Alice Weidel’s AfD, a party which offers a vision of Musk’s idealized future for the West.
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This was a very insightful article about Elon Musk, who is inarguably one of the most important people of our time.
I am curious about how Musk wants to solve the problem of low birth rates (he certainly seems to be doing "his part" in this regard).
To me, the most important part of the AfD's rise is how it relates to what, as the author writes, Weidel refers to as a "guilt cult" relating to the Holocaust. Most people (including me) would agree that the aims of the post-WWII German government to teach younger Germans about the horrors of the Holocaust were just, if not virtuous. However, Weidel makes a legitimate point when she claims that this guilt is interfering with the sovereignty of the German state. Perhaps the rise of the AfD, a nationalist party, has much to do with the German government's policies of repressing nationalist sentiments.
I also wonder about how liberal Weidel really is economically. Given that Musk is getting involved, I assume that Weidel supports some form of deregulation, even if it's not to the extent of DOGE. The political economy of Europe tends to favor regulation a lot more, and I wonder how much of Weidel's liberalization is a reflection of authentic, domestic German sentiment and how much of it is due to Musk. As Metternich once wrote, "When France sneezes, Europe catches a cold." To me, this seems to be a case of American political developments having a ripple throughout the entire world.
All in all, this was a thought-provoking article, and I look forward to reading more from Mr. Stone in the future.