An oligarch for the AfD
US oligarch Elon Musk steps up endorsement of the AfD. Support for the far right in Europe coming from Trump’s circle since 2018. Key role played by a Hungary-based branch of a US organisation.
WASHINGTON/BERLIN (own report) - US high-tech oligarch Elon Musk is topping his interventions in support of the AfD election campaign with a live chat with AfD spokesperson Alice Weidel this Thursday. The subject of the discussion, which Musk and the AfD are unanimously promoting, is above all “the AfD’s ideas for getting Germany fit for the future”, a Weidel spokesperson is quoted as saying. Musk has previously openly backed the party, just as he has spoken in support of ultra-right forces in other European countries, including the UK and Italy. The European far right had already enjoyed support from Donald Trump’s circle during Trump’s first presidency. The then US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, for instance, abandoning all diplomatic reserve, declared in June 2018 that he “absolutely wants to strengthen other conservatives across Europe”. And, again in 2018, Trump’s former ‘chief strategist’ Steve Bannon tried to coordinate larger parties of the far right across Europe and help them achieve greater electoral success. Bannon may have failed back then, but since 2022, the US Republican’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has become systematically rooted in Europe, linking European far-right forces to the US right via an offshoot based in Hungary.
‘A groundswell of conservative policies’
During Donald Trump’s first presidency there were already some efforts by officials and activists from Trump’s circle to openly encourage the far right in Europe. In early June 2018, the then US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, stated in an interview with the ultra-right US online platform Breitbart that, “I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe.”[1] He believed that “there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left.” In any case, “There are a lot of conservatives throughout Europe who have contacted me to say they are feeling there is a resurgence going on. There’s no question about that and it’s an exciting time.” Grenell added that Donald Trump’s election success had proven that it was possible to break the control of traditional elites over access to power. Among those in power around Europe, Grenell himself most admired Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s Prime Minister: “Sebastian Kurz is a rock star. I'm a big fan.”[2] This was after Kurz’s conservative ÖVP party had entered into a governing coalition with the extreme far-right FPÖ, the Freedom Party of Austria.
Steve Bannon in Europe
Also in 2018, Trump’s former campaign advisor and short-lived “chief strategist” Steve Bannon launched an initiative to energise the European far right and lead them to real electoral success. He planned to set up an organisation called The Movement, which would support the existing parties of the far right with surveys, analyses and advice.[3] In mid-July 2018, on the fringes of a Trump visit to London, Bannon discussed this with leading figures from several up-and-coming parties of the European far right, including politicians in the Sweden Democrats, the Belgian Vlaams Belang and the French Rassemblement National (RN). Back in spring 2018, Bannon had also held talks with politicians from Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s Lega and with the co-chair of the AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, Alice Weidel. These contacts were followed by meetings with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the leader of the Fratelli d'Italia, now Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.[4] Bannon’s experiment with The Movement failed. However, he again supported Meloni in the Italian election campaign in September 2022, rightly predicting a successful outcome. Like British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he said, she will win and “history will prove her right.”[5]
CPAC Hungary
The influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is seeking to build systematic connections between the European far right and Trump’s own right circles in the United States. CPAC, founded in 1974 as an annual gathering and networking organisation of the right wing of the US Republican Party, developed into a mass event in the 2000s. It has backed Donald Trump, then newly elected as president, since 2017. In that year it also began to create offshoots in other countries, seeing the advantage of networking with national rightist forces around the world and the powerful US right. A CPAC Japan (2017) was followed by a CPAC South Korea, a CPAC Australia, and a CPAC Brazil (each in 2019), later adding in 2022 a CPAC Mexico, a CPAC Israel and a CPAC Hungary. The third CPAC Hungary event took place in April 2024 and was opened by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán himself. It was attended by US Republicans and numerous leading politicians from extreme right-wing parties across Europe, such as the leaders of Geert Wilders’ PVV party (Netherlands), Vlaams Belang (Belgium), Vox (Spain) and Chega (Portugal). Representatives of the Fratelli d'Italia and the AfD have been present at all three CPAC Hungary events held so far.[6]
‘Saving Germany’
The initial advances made by Grenell and Bannon and the promotion of conservative and far-right networking by CPAC Hungary have created fertile soil on which recent interventions by X boss Elon Musk can thrive. The multi-billionaire tech boss and close confidant of Trump has brazenly endorsed far-right figures and parties in various European countries. In the UK, for instance, he has given two extreme right-wing activists, previously blocked on Twitter, access to his X platform. He supports the far-right party Reform UK. In Italy, he has built close relations with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her far-right party Fratelli d'Italia. And now he has started praising the AfD on X. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” he proclaimed on 20 December. On 28 December, an article under Musk’s name appeared – released online in advance – in the Springer-owned newspaper Welt am Sonntag. The piece argued that, “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country.” He claimed that portraying the anti-immigration party as extremists was “clearly false”. Musk accompanied this with insults aimed at those in power: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was an “anti-democratic tyrant”, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “incompetent idiot” and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck a “traitor to the people”.[7]
The ideas of the AfD
Musk has announced a live chat on X with the AfD’s co-chair and lead candidate for the upcoming election, Alice Weidel. It is due to take place today, Thursday. In August 2024, Musk had a similar public conversation with the then presidential candidate Donald Trump. This event gave a huge boost to the Trump campaign along with Musk’s major campaign donation, said to have been around 200 million US dollars. He is being rewarded with an influential advisory post and a key position in government as he joins with Vivek Ramaswamy, another rightist Republican entrepreneur, to head up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This newly created office is tasked with preparing cuts in the apparatus of government and shrinking the state budget. According to Weidel’s own spokesperson, Daniel Tapp, the chat with Musk is not their first contact by any means. Musk took an interest in the AfD party programme several months ago, explains Tapp and there have been regular exchanges between an AfD team and Musk’s people. “The main topics for the showcase chat with Weidel will be freedom of opinion and the AfD’s ideas on getting Germany fit for the future,” announces Tapp.[8] So, just a few weeks before the federal election, we can expect blatant campaign support for the AfD from an American oligarch.
No whims
Musk’s campaigning on behalf of the AfD is not just a matter of the whims of an individual US oligarch drifting ever rightwards. Rather, it is linked to strategic and economic interests – on both sides of the Atlantic. german-foreign-policy.com will be reporting on this shortly.
[1], [2] Chris Tomlinson: Trump’s right hand man in Europe Rick Grenell wants to ‘empower’ European conservatives. breitbart.com 03.06.2018. See also: Die Souveränität der Macht.
[3] Maia de la Baume, Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli: Steve Bannon’s stuttering European adventure. politico.eu 05.03.2019.
[4] Ewan Palmer: Giorgia Meloni Set to Give Steve Bannon a Huge Victory for His ‘Revolution’. newsweek.com 24.09.2022.
[5] Tom Kington: Trump’s top adviser Steve Bannon hails Giorgia Meloni as ‘Thatcher’ of Italian right. thetimes.com 12.09.2022.
[6] See: Europe shifting further right (II).
[7] Jasper Ruppert: Warum sich Elon Musk in die deutsche Politik einmischt. br.de 08.01.2025.
[8] Elon Musk und Alice Weidel: Alles Wichtige zum Live-Talk auf X am 9 January, wiwo.de 08.01.2025.
