Political leaders have shunned the Alternative for Germany. But on his social media platform X, Mr. Musk is pitching the party as mainstream.
Elon Musk is not just dabbling in German politics. He is attempting to break a political blockade that has kept the nation’s most prominent far-right party out of government even as it has gained strength with voters.
On Thursday, Mr. Musk hosted a live, English-language interview with Alice Weidel. She is the chancellor candidate for that far-right party, the Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD, in the country’s snap election scheduled for Feb. 23. Even before the event, which was held on X, the social media platform that Mr. Musk owns, it had raised alarms and threats of legal consequences among Germany’s political class.
That was, in large part, because Mr. Musk is offering the AfD a level of publicity and legitimacy that it has long been denied in German public life.
He made that push explicit in the interview, repeating his warning to Germans that only the AfD can bring about the change their country needs.
Voting for the AfD “is simply the sensible move,” Mr. Musk said, about a half-hour into a conversation that had largely lingered on energy and immigration policy. “And I think Alice Weidel is a very reasonable person, and hopefully people can tell just from this conversation. Nothing outrageous is being proposed, just common sense.”
The AfD has risen to the second position in German national polls, backed by about a fifth of the electorate. It has gained support with an unwavering anti-establishment campaign, which rails against the millions of migrants and refugees who have entered the country over the last decade from the Middle East and Ukraine.