Elon Musk, the AfD, and the Billionaire Playbook for Populist Chaos

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has once again entered the spotlight recently due to his virtual appearance at an AfD rally in Germany in January 2025. To some this may come as a surprise, but those who have been following the recent administration change in Washington could see this event coming from a mile away. Taking his recent appointment as the head of DOGE, Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has focused heavily on using his sway on President Trump to influence American politics. He has been extremely critical of the Department of Labor and most recently the Department of Education. To this billionaire tech bro, the government should not serve the public, but rather the elite billionaire class that seek higher tax breaks and less regulation through unchecked free market capitalism. 

So how does this lead us to Germany and the AfD?

The AfD, Alternative Für Deutschland or the Alternative for Germany, has been on the European political scene since its establishment in 2012. Founding members Konrad Adam and Bernd Lucke started the party with the intention of opposing Germany’s federal policies at the time of the Euro Crisis. What began as an anti-globalist movement has taken it a step further under new leadership focusing more primarily on immigration and the cultural legacy of Germany. Shouts from the crowd, “Make Germany Great Again” makes one shudder but a seasoned troller of global politics, Musk was adamant that Germans need to look to the future rather than their past. He stated via livestream that there has been, “frankly too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that.” This is coming at a time where the media has seen Musk give some rather questionable hand gestures during large rallies in the wake of Trump’s inauguration. 

I think it goes without saying that Musk absolutely did this intentionally to stir a media frenzy and to empower the far right that see the ascension of Trump and billionaires such as Musk as the go ahead for racial division and supremacy. His belief that the world has focused too heavily on past guilt and discussion of devastating events such as the Holocaust sound all too familiar during this time where fascism has left our history books and has found itself spewing once again out of the mouths of demagogues like Musk. If he had even a shred of decency and empathy, he would understand that it is about education and acknowledgement and not blame. 

Regardless of his possible xenophobic beliefs, he ultimately seeks to sow discord and avert the attention of the general population from his real passion of attaining absolute power and ensuring that his endless flow of notoriety and wealth does not end. His attention given to populists such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Nigel Farage in the UK are a testament to this. The refusal of governments to do efficient work is masked by creating nationalist crises and distracting the attention of the world with social issues that they never intend to solve. 

The real issue here lies in Musk attempting very strongly to influence yet another election. Although the AfD has not performed well in the past and does not hold a majority in the Bundestag, it is alarming to see a billionaire like Musk using national sentiment to actively sway the recent snap elections in February of 2025. His verbiage is deliberate in stating that the AfD and Alice Weidel are the only option to save Germany from “cultural and economic collapse.” It seems this notion has carried in some ways across German votership as the AfD finished at 20.5% in exit polls, moving the party slowly towards the center rather than the fringes of the political scene.

It will be incredibly pertinent for the new government under Merz to reach across the aisle as chancellor and dissuade the country from this path of hate by forming a productive administration. Euroscepticism is steadily on the rise as the war in Ukraine rages; the continent continues to see the failures of the EU to rectify long-standing issues, but I firmly believe that the EU must unify and face its challenges head on if it wishes to see progress as a cooperative union.

This increasing doomism will continue to deteriorate the pillars of the European Union, but it’s important to focus on the bigger picture of what the EU can achieve. This recent “Pyrrhic” victory by the AfD must be a lesson to serious politicians that wish to see a peaceful and prosperous Europe. It is imperative that Germany and Europe stand strong against this wave of far-right populism that seeks to undo global cooperation and understanding. Free speech is not under fire as JD Vance and Elon Musk would have you believe, but opposition to hate speech certainly is. We cannot continue to hang the metaphorical “for sale” sign on democracy if we hope to see it prevail against the drivel of xenophobic politicians and their billionaire sponsors.

Europe’s leaders need to focus undoubtedly on real problems such as housing and job shortages, the climate crisis, and ending the war in Ukraine. The United States is certainly putting Europe in a tight spot, but I am optimistic that it can prevail against the loud shouting from Washington and progress forward to a brighter future if these warnings about far-right populism are heeded.

Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

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