US tech billionaire Elon Musk’s support of right-wing politicians in Europe is “disgusting”, Germany’s outgoing left-wing Chancellor Olaf Scholz has claimed.
Speaking to CNN in English on January 28, Scholz blasted the new official with the US Presient Donald Trump’s administration for his pronouncements on European Union politics, claiming it was endangering the bloc’s democracy.
“I disagree completely with Elon Musk and what he is doing,” he said.
VIDEO – caught up with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz @Bundeskanzler at a campaign event. He ripped into @elonmusk and his support for the @AfD and Musk saying Germany needs to “overcome its historic guilt.” Scholz: “this is really disgusting and not good for democratic… pic.twitter.com/ffMr4FMwN6
— Frederik Pleitgen (@fpleitgenCNN) January 29, 2025
“What is new is that he is intervening in favour of right-wing politicians all over Europe and this is really disgusting.”
The Chancellor went on to blast Musk for his recent comments on German history. The X social media platform owner recently urged people in the country to “take pride in Germany and being German”, describing it as an “ancient nation” that needs to move on from “past guilt”.
“I’m absolutely critical about what Elon Musk said about the history of Germany,” Scholz said.
“This is the week where we are remembering the freeing of the last people in the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
“And I am absolutely clear: There is a responsibility of Germany. There will continue to be a responsibility. We are very happy about the United States that freed our country and helped us to become a democracy again.
“And this is why I am so angry about Elon Musk intervening for the far-right, and Elon Musk also not acting adequately to this killing of so many Jews and other people in Europe done by Germans in the past,” he concluded.
Elon Musk has appeared in a video call at the election campaign kick-off of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), again showing his strong support for the hard-right party. https://t.co/tCe0kEzYMz
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 27, 2025
Scholz’s comments represented the latest volley between him and Musk, with the latter having repeatedly blasted what he called the Chancellor’s failure to address Germany’s problems with energy and mass migration.
The tech guru has publicly backed the country’s hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the forthcoming federal elections on February 23, describing it as being the “only party” that could save the country.
While such endorsements have been met with resistance from legacy political parties and media outlets, it has coincided with a bump in the party’s polling.
According to pollsters YouGov, AfD was now in second place in the election race, boasting around 23 per cent support. It appeared to be closing the gap with the Christian Democrats, formerly led by ex-chancellor Angela Merkel.
Polling by INSA has the party on 22 per cent support.
The country’s populist-left offering, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), has not seen similar success. Its support has dropped from as high as 10 per cent to between 3 and 6 per cent in some polls.
Politicians from the BSW have now suggested that some of the data could have been rigged, arguing that low polling would suppress voter interest.
“If you put a 3 in the shop window, it will drag people down because it tells them: It’s not worth it,” the party’s eponymous leader, Sahra Wagenknecht, said of one particularly low poll on January 28.
Germany’s outgoing left-wing Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told US tech billionaire Elon Musk that supporting so-called “extreme-right” positions did not count as free speech. https://t.co/XLCFTn26Um
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 22, 2025
