The views of the Tesla leader caused a huge public storm.

Businessman Elon Musk published an opinion piece supporting the German right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the online edition of the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag on Saturday.

In the opinion article published in German, Elon Musk explains in detail his view published last week on X, which was also shared by the future vice president of the United States, JD Vance, according to which only the AfD can save Germany.

In his article on Saturday, he said: "The AfD is the last ray of hope for Germany, and this party would represent the right position on the issues of the economy, energy and immigration. The AfD stands for political realism. It is clearly false to describe the AfD as a far-right party, since the leader of the party, Alice Weidel, lives with her same-sex partner, a woman of Sri Lankan origin. Would that really look like Hitler? Come on, please!” Musk wrote.

Shortly after the publication of the article, Eva Marie Kogel, editor of the Welt am Sonntag's opinion section, announced on X that she had resigned from the paper.

In his post, he posted a link to Musk's opinion piece. Welt am Sonntag is a special edition of the daily Die Welt. When contacted by the Reuters news agency, Jan Philipp Burgard, the appointed editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and Ulf Poschardt, the publisher of the paper who took office on January 1, said:

democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression, and that includes clashing opposing viewpoints.

According to them, the discussions around Musk's article were really instructive. Below the opinion piece, Welt am Sonntag also published a reply from the designated editor-in-chief, in which Burgard wrote:

Musk's diagnosis of the state of the country is correct, but his solution proposal that only the AfD could save Germany is a fatal mistake, because the party would lead Germany out of the European Union, approach Russia, and seek reconciliation with China.

Musk and Burgard's writing will appear right next to each other in the paper's print edition.

It should be remembered that the German Constitutional Protection Office put the AfD under surveillance in 2021 due to suspicions of far-right aspirations contrary to the Basic Law. Germany is holding an early election at the end of February after the government coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.

According to surveys, the AfD is the second most popular political force among voters, but several parties have indicated that they will not be willing to cooperate with the party at the federal level.

Hungarian Nation

Cover image: Elon Musk
Source: MTI/EPA-PAP/Zbigniew Meissner