Elon Musk has thrown his weight behind a far-right party in Germany after early elections were triggered by a no-confidence vote in chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” the billionaire X owner wrote on the platform on Friday (20/12) in the latest of a series of endorsements of European far-right parties.
Despite showcasing many similar characteristics to other populist parties on the continent, the ‘Alternative for Germany’ has been described as “far worse” than the rest.
Germany’s foremost expert on the subject, sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer, said the AfD now stands for an “authoritarian national radicalism,” namely, an ideology that propagates a hierarchically ordered, ethnically homogeneous society overseen by a strong-arm state.
What’s particularly radical, he said, is the party’s communication with and mobilization of misanthropic groups that rain violence on select minorities. These protagonists encompass a wide array of hate groups, including neo-Nazis, which are largely responsible for the highest level of hate crimes in Germany in three decades.
Its victims are refugees, foreign nationals, Jews, Muslims, and LGBTQ+ people.
The AfD is polling in second place at 19 per cent ahead of Germany’s early election, potentially setting it up to become the largest opposition party in the next parliament.
Germany’s conservative alliance, led by chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, is polling in first place by a wide margin at 31 per cent.
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