Portside

We are in a dangerous moment for democracy.

Again.

Over the past few days, Elon Musk – aka the richest man in the world, aka the owner of Twitter, aka the soon-to-be co-head of DOGE, aka the US shadow president in waiting – has repeatedly endorsed Germany’s far-right party, the AfD (in English: Alternative for Germany; in German: Alternative für Deutschland).

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk tweeted on Friday to his 208 million followers. “AfD is the only hope for Germany,” he added on Saturday. “Only AfD can save Germany,” he repeated on Sunday. In between, he also tweeted: “The AfD policies are identical to those of the US Democratic Party when Obama took office!”

When I pointed out on Twitter that this was a “demonstrable lie,” an army of Musk fanboys arrived in my feed to insist that I, in fact, demonstrate the lie.

So here we go. To pretend the AfD is a mainstream political party, similar to the US Democrats, is absurd. The AfD may have begun in 2013, barely a decade ago, as an anti-euro party focused on the European Union and economic and monetary issues, but it quickly morphed into an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim party filled with cranks, extremists, and Nazi sympathizers.

Don’t take my word for it. Jörg Meuthen, who was the leader of the AfD from 2015 to 2022, quit the party after he was unable to expel a senior AfD member who described himself as the “friendly face” of Nazism. “I could tell you a large number of stories about these people,” Meuthen told the Financial Times over the summer. “I would never elect one of these guys. Never!”

Bernd Lucke, a co-founder and former chair of the AfD who quit the party in 2015, believes the AfD contains officials “whose loyalty to the [German] constitution can be doubted.”

But you don’t just have to take their word for it, either.

Consider the shocking events of just 2024 alone – which Elon Musk, of course, would like you to ignore.

1. Secret Far-Right Meeting

In January, it emerged that AfD officials had attended a secret meeting with far-right and neo-Nazi influencers, at which they discussed the forced deportation of millions of people – including German citizens! Thousands of Germans took to the streets in protest, some carrying banners which included: “Nazis, no thank you.”

“The meeting took place in a hotel outside the east German city of Potsdam on 25 Nov, but did not come to light until 10 Jan…A central focus was a presentation by Martin Sellner, the Austrian leader of the ethno-nationalist Identitarian movement, about… carrying out mass deportation.” – The Guardian

2. ‘Extremist Movement’

In February, a German court ruled that the AfD’s youth wing could be considered an “extremist movement.”

“A German regional court ruled Tuesday that the youth faction of the country’s biggest anti-immigrant nationalist party could be considered an ‘extremist movement’ - marking the first such classification of a political party since the Nazis. The Junge Alternative, an offshoot of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) whose members are as young as 14 years old, has called immigrants ‘parasites’ and ‘criminals.’” – Semafor

3. Court-Approved Surveillance

In May, a German court signed off on the BfV, the German equivalent of the FBI, putting the AfD under surveillance for “suspected” extremism.

“Germany’s domestic intelligence agency was justified in putting the far-right Alternative for Germany under observation for suspected extremism, a court ruled Monday, rejecting an appeal from the opposition party.” – Associated Press

4. Waffen-SS Controversy

Also in May, a top AfD politician suggested that members of the Nazi Waffen-SS were not all “criminals,” prompting even France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen to cut ties with the AfD.

“A top far-right German politician says he will pull back from campaigning for the upcoming EU elections - although he will remain his party's lead candidate. [...] AfD's Maximilian Krah told journalists that SS members weren’t automatically ‘criminals.’

‘It depends. You have to assess blame individually. At the end of the war there were almost a million SS. Günter Grass was also in the Waffen SS,’ he told La Repubblica and the Financial Times, referring to the German novelist who wrote The Tin Drum.

‘Before I declare someone a criminal, I want to know what he did.’” – BBC

5. Nazi Slogans

In July, AfD senior leader Björn Höcke – who would later lead the AfD to its first-ever, first-place finish in a state election in Thuringia in November – was found guilty of using a Nazi slogan for a second time. This is the same Höcke who once condemned Germany’s Holocaust memorial.

“Björn Höcke… has been found guilty of using a Nazi slogan for the second time. A court in Halle, in eastern Germany, ruled Monday that the politician must pay a fine of €16,900 for using the first two words of the slogan ‘Everything for Germany!’ at an AfD event in December, then encouraging the crowd to complete the phrase. Using this phrase in political speeches is prohibited in Germany as it was used by Adolf Hitler’s SA storm troopers… Höcke is expected to appeal the verdict… In May, Höcke was fined €13,000 for closing a 2021 campaign speech with the same slogan. His lawyers also appealed that ruling.” - Politico

In conclusion, Elon Musk is publicly and proudly supporting a foreign far-right party suspected of extremism by Germany’s own courts and intelligence officials; a party too extreme even for Marine Le Pen; a party filled with people who meet with, defend, and quote Nazis.

How is any of that… okay?

[Mehdi Hasan is the Founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Zeteo.]