Summary

Elon Musk expressed support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on X, stating “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

Party leader Alice Weidel welcomed his endorsement, urging followers to review her criticisms of German politics.

The AfD, polling at 19% ahead of February’s federal election, is officially under scrutiny as an extremist group by German authorities.

Musk has previously questioned the party’s “far-right” label. Controversy surrounds the AfD, including links to a meeting discussing deportation of migrants.

  • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    So Musk really is just going full Bond-esk super villain with world domination right? That’s what this is? He doesn’t have to win any election so long as he can just buy every government, which he can then ensure he owns all the money, to buy more…

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Are we allowed to discuss the many many benefits that society might receive if Elon Musk were in fact assassinated?

    • don@lemm.ee
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      20 hours ago

      I’d be, with extremely little resistance, willing to listen to your argument. Tread heavily if you dare.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      7 hours ago

      Depends how western. For americans Russia is on the west.

  • hubobes@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    One of their supports just murdered 2 and insured 60 when he drove his car into a Christmas market…

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    23 hours ago

    on the same day that an anti islam afd supporter committed a terrorist attack on a christmas market even

    elon sure can pick them

      • ours@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        I know far-right extremists aren’t the sharpest bunch or the most well-adjusted but I’m trying and failing to understand the reasoning behind ramming a christmass market as an anti-Islam action.

        • just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 hours ago

          Maybe to increase religious tensions? He was very anti-muslim, and hated germany for enabling “islamization of europe”.

          So probably in his mind, if he, being saudi, were to attack a christian related event just before the election, it would snowball into some anti-muslim winning election thus him getting what he wanted.

        • killingspark@feddit.org
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          15 hours ago

          It seems like he had a lot of trouble with state agencies and the justice system lately. He probably snapped and just wanted to hurt people. I don’t think this was an action that was supposed to send a message beyond “the system broke me so everyone must suffer”

  • Jack@slrpnk.net
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    20 hours ago

    Did people also saw Hitler like that before he got in power?

    “Oh look that bozo doing shit again” and then bam, the bozo is the head of state?

    • killingspark@feddit.org
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      15 hours ago

      Maybe? He did try to take power once, failed, went to prison for like a year and then got right back to it.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      14 hours ago

      People didn’t think of him in that light till WW2 started.

      Before that he was actually beloved by most, so much so that when he annexed Poland, the rest of Europe and America basically went “Aww shucks”

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      I mean, have you ever really looked at him without the hindsight knowledge of what nazi germany would be like? he’s so fucking lame.

  • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Elon: “Why are they considered far-right? They don’t look far-right to me!”

    Also Elon: ⬅️-----------------------------🙋➡️

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      As a believer in Horseshoe Theory (Just hang around a tankie long enough, you will too)

      I’m really hoping these people somehow wrap around to being left… I mean that won’t happen because the Horseshoe only bends one way, but damn.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      It’s pretty much comes down to

      Do they support trans people and trans rights?

      Yes: Woke mind virus.

      No: TAKE MY MONEY!

      That’s why he’s in right wing politics now, he’s said as much. His trans daughter, who he dead names, was “stolen” from him.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      For the month maybe, but its possible imports are gonna be higher in December for various shipping reasons. Monthly numbers aren’t always good indicators and have always been used to attack Tesla even when they were growing, not to say it might not be a preview of whats to come either. It’s around 15% YTD.

          • SulaymanF@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            Oh you meant it was down YTD. I was confusing you with one of the Tesla defenders who are claiming record growth.

            • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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              11 hours ago

              I mean maybe they have record growth for a month or two in a very specific region, like this one really bad month in the EU but ya not happening this year. It’s gonna take a huge Q4 push to not be down globally YTD but maybe they’ll squeak a tiny tiny growth out.

  • Can’t say that I’m surprised. Both are pro-RuSSian trolls and just absolute morons in general, but it’s still pretty interesting, because the AfD absolutely hates EVs and prefers RuSSian oil imports. I honestly think that Musk just isn’t aware of their EV politics, and it makes all of this so much funnier 😂

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Elon’s actually come out against EV subsidies. It seems counter intuitive until you realize he’s so detached from any one product that the power he’s derived from his wealth is more important now.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        13 hours ago

        At this point it’s not about the money, it’s about THE METS BABY!

        It’s about feeling like he’s in charge. At this point he’s so drunk on attention and power that he’d order a nuclear strike on his own daddy’s Emerald Mines if he thought it’d make him look like a big man.

      • Kornblumenratte@feddit.org
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        15 hours ago

        Tesla sells their EVs as technical avantgarde and elitist sports cars. When EVs become commonplace, they’ll face serious competition. People won’t be content with their mediocre build quality and terrible ergonomics any longer. Musk countering EV subsidies is deeply based in reality.

  • snekerpimp@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Damn, so he’s just going to buy every government? I guess the first one was so cheap, he figures he can afford at least four or five more.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      People have a real problem grasping the wealth of 500 Billion dollars. At the Median US household income it would take 12 years to make a million dollars; 1,200 years to make a hundred million dollars; 12,000 years to make a billion dollars; and 1.2 million years to make a 100 billion dollars.

      His wealth is essentially limitless. It is that of a moderate sized country like Norway or Israel. When he can have an effect with 100 million dollars he could influence 5,000 elections with 500 billion dollars. And that’s not even talking about his investments in social media, PR cult of personality, and straight up vote buying in broad daylight.

      I sincerely hope he and X end up banned from Europe, with a warrant out for his arrest in relation for doing this. Because America has proven unable to stop him. Another country might though if they come down hard on anyone accepting his money and as hard as they can on him without using their military.

    • frunch@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Didn’t his estimated wealth nearly double in the past couple years? He’s got enough money to buy all the governments at this point

    • benni@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Fortunately, AfD is not in the government and possibly never will be

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        They have been getting traction consistently and German politics moved significantly to the right over the past years. Now supposedly progressive parties like the social democrats and greens spout stuff that five years ago was exclusive to the AfD and maybe the fringes of the Bavarian CSU.

        Even if they don’t govern they get their way more and more, which helps normalising their positions more and more, which gives them more and more votes.

      • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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        2 days ago

        They had 93 seats in the German parliament as of 2017 and are now the second most popular party as of a 2023 poll.

        I just got those numbers from a DDG search two minutes ago. Where did you get your information?

        • benni@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          They would require a coalition with another big party, but all other established parties are strongly opposed to working with them, while being at least somewhat open to working with each other. From that perspective, the current voting predictions can be seen as 19% AfD vs 60% established parties (no longer counting FDP, lol). Still bad, but I think it’s reasonably likely that the other parties would keep coalising with each other and excluding the AfD.

            • benni@lemmy.world
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              16 hours ago

              It’s the same take. They’re not in the government, and possibly never will be.

                • benni@lemmy.world
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                  43 minutes ago

                  Ah, I see the issue now. Parties get voted into the parliament. The government consists of a coalition of parties that together form a majority. The other parties form the opposition. Therefore, a single party can have many seats in the parliament, but still not be part of the government, if enough other parties coalise without them.

    • Breve@pawb.social
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      1 day ago

      Cheap? More like insanely profitable. It’s like any good business venture: you use your successes to expand.

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
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    2 days ago

    So, has Musk straight up admitted to being a white supremacist or has he only dropped anvil-sized hints so far?

  • Breve@pawb.social
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    1 day ago

    Don’t the conservative bobbleheads talk about evil globalist conspiracies? Like, I found it right here for you guys! It was right in front of you the whole time!

    • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      In case you are unaware, when a racist says “globalist” they are not talking about worldwide events, the word “globalist” is a direct replacement for the word “Jew [derogatory]”.

      • Breve@pawb.social
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        1 day ago

        Huh, guess I missed that dog whistle. I thought it was just the opposite of a “nationalist”, people who want to create a new world order and all that.

        I guess I’m not surprised they think it’s the Jewish people doing that, but didn’t think it was exclusive to them.

        • eronth@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          It’s a bit of both. They (often) think globalism is being pushed by the jews for the sake of… jews gaining power? The reason tends to change from person to person, but the point is they often think globalism is a Jewish plot.