Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, met with AfD co-leader Tino Churupala on December 7, shortly after the AfD leadership approved Weidel as the party’s candidate for chancellor. I arrived to meet with the media. 2024, Berlin, Germany.
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Elon Musk used his social network Hosted a live discussion with Alice Weidel.
“I strongly encourage people to vote for the AfD,” CEO Musk said. tesla said SpaceX, in addition to its role in X, about 30 minutes into the conversation. “That’s my strong recommendation.”
The AfD is classified as a “suspected extremist organization” by Germany’s domestic intelligence service. The party’s platform calls for tougher asylum laws, mass deportations, cuts to social welfare support in Germany and the lifting of regulations on internal combustion engine cars.
Former European Union Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a Jan. 4 post about AfD And I think it’s important to remind Weidell that it provides “an important and valuable advantage over our competitors.”
According to a report from broadcaster DW, the AfD has the support of about 20% of the population, but it is possible that the party could be part of a coalition government as most other political parties have vowed not to cooperate with the AfD. gender is low.
The AfD had previously protested the construction of a Tesla electric car factory outside Berlin on the grounds that it would provide jobs to people who are not German citizens.
Musk’s previous tweets praising the AfD and support for editorials in German newspapers have angered European government officials. Musk, the world’s richest man, also supports far-right and anti-establishment candidates and causes in the UK.
NBC News previously reported that political leaders in France, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom denounced Musk’s influence and warned that he should not be involved in their countries’ elections.
Musk, who was one of President-elect Donald Trump’s leading supporters in the November election, had previously promoted Trump during a live-streamed debate on X. Before that, he moderated a conversation with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Republican who lost to Trump. major.
Mr. Weidell asked Mr. Musk during Thursday’s meeting about what Mr. Trump might do to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, as the president-elect has suggested he could do soon.
Mr. Musk demurred.
“Let me be clear: This is up to President Trump. He’s the commander in chief, the commander in chief, so it’s really up to him,” Musk said. “I don’t want to speak for him, but I think there is a path to a solution, but we need strong American leadership to get this done.”
Musk also offered his opinion on what should be done in the Gaza Strip, which has been under attack from Israel since Hamas’ deadly invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.
“We have no choice but to eliminate those who seek to eliminate the state of Israel, as Hamas inherently knows,” Musk said. “The second step is to modify education so that Palestinians are not trained from childhood to hate Israel and wish for death.”
“And third, and this is also very important, is to make the Palestinian territories prosperous.”
—CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin contributed to this report.
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