The dialogue and counterclaims between the multi-billionaire Elon Musk and German politicians continue, while the early federal elections in Germany.

The richest man in the world, his supporter and now close associate donald trump, made a new intervention in the German election campaign, fighting in favor of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which causes reactions and criticism in the European country.

After succeeding against the social democratic chancellor Olaf Solz, whom through X – a platform he owns – he called a “useless idiot” and his open call for a vote for the AfD, Elon Musk returned today.

In an opinion article signed and published bythe Sunday edition of the Welt, the businessman characterizes Germany as a country “on the brink of economic and cultural collapse” and repeats that “the AfD is the last spark of hope”.

He points to problems in the economy, in terms of immigration, energy costs, cultural identity, the field of innovation.

And he insists the AfD is “the right party to save Germany from becoming a shadow of its former self”.

He claims he has a right to criticize as he has invested in Germany – referring to its factory Tesla in Brandenburg.

Standing in favor of the AfD, Mr. Musk argues that the allegation of a far-right faction is false because, according to him, the leader of the party Alice Weidel has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka. “Does this remind you of Hitler?” Please!”.

The federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized the efforts of “foreign influence” during the pre-election period, speaking of a “threat to democracy, whether it is covert, as is allegedly happening in Romania, or open and blatant, as is currently being done with particular intensity in platform X’.

“The decision (…) is taken exclusively by citizens with the right to vote in Germany. Hate and violence should have no place in the election campaign,” added the federal president.

Mr. Musk replied to Mr. Steinmeier commenting under the posted video of his statement on X: “He will lose the next election.”

He is probably unaware that the February 23 election is not about the federal presidency, but that the president is elected by a body of electors chosen by the parties, not directly by the citizens.

In addition, Frank-Walter Steinmeier is already serving his second term and is not eligible for re-election anyway.

The article by Mr. Musk caused reactions from all sides.

THE general secretary of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) Marco Busman he told Bild that “anyone who flirts with a partly nationalist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic party is not suitable as a political role model,” recalling that the AfD wants Germany out of the EU and the eurozone, as well as NATO.

“This would be suicide for our economy and security,” he stressed.

In the same spirit, Christian Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group vice-president Jens Spahn commented in English via X that the AfD “wants us to leave the EU, to reactivate Nord Stream 2, which is seen as against American interests and in favor of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Russia” and wondered: “This is what the USA; A Germany which will turn towards Russia and away from the USA?’

Asked about this by Bild, Mr Chancellor of the Union candidate Friedrich Mertz declined to comment on the Musk article.

THE Minister of Transport and Justice Volker Wissingwho hails from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) but remained in government by leaving its ranks, today criticized his former leader Christian Lindnerbecause during his pre-election appearances he often praises Mr. Mask or address him directly through X.

“Anyone who openly and directly supports right-wing populist politicians and parties – whether financially or verbally – can never be a model for liberal policies,” noted Mr. Vissing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and added that Elon Musk is “pushing his own agenda with his money and as the owner of the X platform, although he should be obliged to remain neutral on the latter issue.”

The politician who left the FDP also noted that Germany does not thrive business in a climate of political turmoil, but political stability.

“The fact that our Constitution is oriented against subversive changes creates the investment security that has made our country economically strong”, he added.

At the beginning of December, Christian Lindner had said Germany should move more “like (Argentine’s ultra-liberal president) Millay or Musk” and, when Mr. Musk was in favor of voting for the AfD, invited him to discuss in order, as he said, to convince him of the merits of the FDP.

THE Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) for its part, also through X, expressed its respect to anyone who disagreed with the publication of Elon Musk’s article.

“The fact that political power can now be bought more and more easily will do great damage to democracy. If newspapers are involved in this too they are digging their own hole and they are no better than social media,” he noted.

Welt’s head of opinion articles Eva Marie Kogel announced her resignation yesterday.

“I was always happy to run the opinion pages of the Welt and the Sunday edition. Today in Welt am Sonntag an article by Elon Musk was published. I tendered my resignation yesterday after the article went to press,” Ms Kogel wrote.

The positions of the partner of the next US president caused reactions in the area of ​​the German economy as well.

OR co-owner of clothing industry Trigema Bonita Group reminded Capital magazine that the head of the AfD in Thuringia Bjorn Heke he recently wished for the bankruptcy of German businesses that used the slogan – initiative of the Association of Family Businesses, “Made in Germany – Made by Diversity” (Made in Germany – Made with diversity).

“What Mr. Heke I couldn’t even believe it at first. There are people who think that “Made in Germany” actually means “made by Germans”, but this is not the case and by the way it never was. Today, 35% of our workers have an immigrant background,” said Mrs. Grupp and emphasized that “without these skilled workers, we could not maintain our production.”

The AfD leadership welcomed Elon Musk’s new position with obvious satisfaction.

The leader and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel via X reproduced an excerpt from the text in Welt: “The AfD has realized that economic freedom is not just desirable, but necessary. Its approach to curbing government overregulation, cutting taxes and deregulating the market reflects the principles that made Tesla and SpaceX successful (…) The AfD, even if described as far-right, represents a political realism that they share many Germans who feel their concerns are disregarded by the establishment. It addresses current issues without the political correctness that often obscures the truth.”

From her side Association of German Journalists (DJV), president Mika Boister called on the editorial teams of the German media “not to allow themselves to be instrumentalized in the election campaign”, to handle opinion pieces “extremely carefully”. “The German media must not allow themselves to be abused”, to turn them into “mouthpieces for authoritarian politicians and their friends”.

According to Welt am Sonntag, however, the manager Jan Philip Burghardt and the future publisher of WELT Ulf Possard stated that they agree with Elon Musk’s positions on Germany’s economic and cultural crisis, but called the conclusion that AfD is the solution “deadly wrong”.

“Elon Musk seems to be overlooking the geopolitical context in which the AfD wants to place Germany – outside the European Union (…) The current discussion about Elon Musk’s text is very revealing as to the fact that democracy and journalism depends on freedom of expression, which includes addressing polarizing positions.”

This is and will continue to be Welt’s compass in the future, added the two leading figures of the newspaper. Welt will seek “even more determinedly” to become “a forum for such discussions”, they concluded.