Consider This from NPR - Elon Musk wades into European politics

Episode Date: January 5, 2025

Billionaire Elon Musk begins 2025 as one of the most influential people in the United States. He's developed a close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, and has been advising the incoming administration on policy and staffing. And Musk is now increasingly weighing in on European politics as well.Host Scott Detrow speaks with reporter Rebecca Collard about Musk wading into European politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

At the end of December, when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced he was dissolving parliament and clearing the way for early elections, he warned of what he called external influences endangering Germany's democracy. He explicitly mentioned the social media platform X, where owner Elon Musk had posted his support for the Alternative for Germany, or the AfD, a party being monitored by the country's domestic intelligence agency for potential right-wing extremism. Dear Elon, thank you so much for your note. Musk's public support prompted this video message from AfD leader Alice Weidel.

The AfD is indeed the one and only alternative for our country. Our last option, if you ask me. I wish you and President Donald Trump all the best for the upcoming tenure. But many were critical of the foreign billionaires' entrance into German politics. Frederick Mertz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, a conservative party currently pulling first ahead of February's elections, called Musk intrusive and pretentious. I don't think he knows much about the AFD. Jackson Jay's is with the German Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan think tank. He is the guy that represents all of the globalistic thinking that has made his career and his

life possible. But here is a party that is against that." Chancellor Olaf Schultz said German law protects freedom of speech, including what he called bad political advice. But Germany is not the only European country that has received Musk's political advice lately. Musk joined a phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President-elect Donald Trump days after Trump was elected to a second term.

Musk reportedly told Zelensky that he could continue to support Ukraine through his Starlink satellites. And last week, Musk attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the head of the Labour Party, and endorsed the far-right Reform UK party in a stream of dozens of ex-posts. Consider this. Elon Musk has cemented his place in American politics right next to President-elect Donald Trump. Now, he's looking to leverage his tremendous wealth and influence to secure power for some of Europe's most right-wing parties. Coming up, we'll talk to Rebecca Collard, who's been reporting from Germany on Musk's wading into European politics.

European politics. From NPR, I'm Scott Detro. It's Consider This from NPR. Billionaire Elon Musk begins 2025 as one of the most influential people in the United States. He's developed a close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump and has been advising the incoming administration on policy and staffing. And Musk is now increasingly weighing in on European politics as well, often over the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which he now owns.

Musk began voicing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AFD, in late December, and his input has generated a lot of response there. Reporter Rebecca Koller joins us now from Berlin. Hey there. Hello. So it seems like there has been a lot of political reaction to Musk's comments. Tell us about that. Well, you can imagine, you know, Musk saying that the AFD is the only party that can save Germany was of course welcomed by the AFD, but it's really been rejected as interference from other politicians across Germany's political spectrum. You know, Germans will be voting

February 23rd for a new federal government. At the moment, the far right AFD is polling second at about 20% behind the conservative CDU. But the AFD really has no chance of actually taking power because the other political parties in this country have said that they will not form a coalition with the AFD and the federal police here have the party under observation because it's a possible threat to democracy. But I will say that Musk's support has caused a lot of concern about a foreign billionaire's ability to sway their politics.

And you know, after all this, Musk doubled down on that tweet with an op-ed in a German newspaper, justifying his interjection into German politics, mentioning his investments in this country. And that has really prompted a lot more response from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, from the head of the CDU, and most recently from Germany's vice chancellor from the Green Party, Robert Habeck. And here Habeck is accusing Musk of wanting a weak Europe for his own interests. So that's leaders. What are other Germans saying about this? own interests. So that's leaders. What are other Germans saying about this? So I was out today talking to people just to try to get this kind of anecdotal gauge on how

Germans are feeling because we've seen such a strong reaction from German politicians and a lot of people I tried to speak to didn't want to or didn't care to talk about it but a lot of others really rejected it. I think Musk does have this special place in the Berlin consciousness. He's this tech billionaire who built this Tesla plant just outside the capital and it employs thousands of people. But he's also kind of the antithesis of what a lot of people like to think Berlin is. And there's this kind of famous techno club here called Berghain. It's notoriously hard to get into.

And in 2022, Musk was rumored to have been rejected by the bouncer at the club, though Musk himself said he decided not to go in. But whatever really happened, a lot of people here really relished that story. There was tons of memes about it online, and people just kind of loved the fact that the world's richest man apparently got rejected from Berlin's coolest club. Well, I guess you can go or say whatever you want when you own the social media app where you're posting, which is the case with X. And Musk is not just posting about Germany though, which is also what makes this interesting.

He's been weighing in on the politics in the United Kingdom as well. What's going on there? Yeah. So Musk has really attacked British Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A lot of his accusations have been related to sexual assault cases against minors in the UK, which Musk has accused Starmer of failing to investigate when his job was director of public prosecutions. And that was really him copying the lines of Tommy Robinson, who's a right-wing activist and founder of the English Defence League. Now, he's jailed right now for 18 months for

breaching a court order. Musk this week called for his release from jail on the platform X. And Musk has also talked about making sizable donations to the reform UK party, although UK election rules would make that a bit complicated. I will say British papers have been reporting that right-wing politicians in the UK have now been reaching out to President-elect Trump and his people, urging them to distance themselves from any support of Robinson. out to President-elect Trump and his people urging them to distance themselves from any support of Robinson. If Musk keeps this up, how different do you think his role in German politics could be

compared to the US? So I think the really big difference here is probably how political parties and campaigns can be funded. Estimates say Musk spent something like $250 million to help get Trump elected. Germany is really different. German law forbids any foreign contribution to any political party that exceeds 500 euros. So at the moment, that's about the same amount in dollars. But what I think is really similar is the possible impact of Musk's personal brand and

of course also his social media platform X. It's big in the US and it's big here in Germany. I think for Germans, both politicians and regular voters who don't support the AFD or don't agree with Musk's ideas, it's worrying how much impact that could have. You know, when the German president dissolved parliament last month, officially paving the way for these elections in February, he talked about the dangers to German democracy and he specifically mentioned the ex platform. And it seems confirmed now that Musk is going to have a conversation

with the leader of the AFD, Alice Vidal, on his platform. And the expectation is a lot of people will be tuning into that. That is reporter Rebecca Collard in Berlin. Thank you so much. You're welcome. This episode was produced by Avery Keatley and Elena Burnett. It was edited by Nick Spicer and Adam Rainey. Our executive producer is Sammy Yetigan. Thank you to our Consider This Plus listeners who support the work of NPR journalists and help keep public radio strong. Supporters also hear every episode without messages from sponsors. You can learn more

at plus.npr.org. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detra. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Consider This sponsor-free through Amazon Music. Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get Consider This Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.