JD Vance calls Elon Musk’s piece praising far-right German party AfD ‘interesting’
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Billionaire argues that ‘Only the AfD Can Save Germany’ in op-ed that prompted commentary editor’s resignation. Vice President-elect JD Vance took to X to call an op-ed by Elon Musk in Die Welt explaining his support for the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) “interesting.”.
The article, entitled Only the AfD Can Save Germany, outlines Musk’s belief that “As someone who has invested significantly in Germany’s industrial and technological landscape, I believe I have earned the right to speak candidly about its political direction.”.
Sharing the article, Vance wrote: “I’m not endorsing a party in the German elections, as it’s not my country and we hope to have good relations with all Germans. But this is an interesting piece.”. “Also interesting; American media slanders AfD as Nazi-lite, but AfD is most popular in the same areas of Germany that were most resistant to the Nazis,” he claimed.
Musk highlighted a number of issues in his op-ed that he claimed Germany must address to avoid “economic and cultural collapse.”. Germany’s ambassador to the U.S., Andreas Michaelis, said on Bluesky that Vance’s observation was “interesting.”.
“Historical context can be tricky – while some areas you are referring to resisted the Nazi party early on, others did not, or later became strongholds of the regime. Germany’s history reminds us how important it is to challenge extremism in all its forms,” he said.
Musk initially shared his support for the AfD in December and he has called for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to step down. Ahead of the election on February 23, the AfD remains the second most popular party in Germany, but all major parties in the country have rejected the possibility of joining a coalition government with the AfD.
