Elon Musk made a surprise appearance during Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) election campaign event in Halle in eastern Germany on Saturday, speaking publicly in support of the far-right party for the second time in as many weeks.

"It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” Musk said.

Note that Musk’s citizenship include South Africa, Canada (from 1989) and United States (from 2002)

  • poVoqM
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    1252 months ago

    Musk spoke live via video link

    For those wondering.

    I guess he is afraid to get arrested in Germany given his apparent lack of self-control Heil Hitlering crowds in person. /s

    • @xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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      322 months ago

      I would hope that the anti-Nazi countries would refuse to allow entry. Unless they decide to let him in just so they can arrest him. Hopefully there are still countries that will hold billionaires accountable.

    • macniel
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      242 months ago

      Heil Hitlering

      I feel bad for laughing at that.

      • @Redredme@lemmy.world
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        172 months ago

        If you find that funny you just have to watch Jojo rabbit.

        It’s where this term comes from. Quite funny. Heartbreaking also. Great movie.

  • @P1nkman@lemmy.world
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    862 months ago

    If it sounds like nazi, walks like a nazi, and talks like a nazi, it’s just Elon Musk, the nazi.

  • @nialv7@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Well, I was downvoted hundreds of times and being told by someone I had the “most moronic opinion” they had ever seen, just because I pointed out there are people in Germany who will celebrate Elon Musk doing the Nazi salute.

    Do you believe me now? I am so tired of this shit. Our world is going up in flames and somehow I still need to be ridiculed by someone who I share most of my political beliefs with. Come on, we are on the same side.

      • Jack
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        52 months ago

        America* FTFY

        of course not all Americans, but maga, all of silicone valley, whoever works for Elon…

      • Calavera
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        12 months ago

        I believe they are dwindling, at least for me it’s getting more rare to find them, although I’m not in twitter.

        I remember going to electrec.co and everybody there was a Musksteer, but now it’s the completely opposite. Even in teslarati there are way more dissidents than before

    • @DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      "Do you think there are no Nazi sympathizers in Germany? Don’t you see AfD on the rise there?

      Most of the people seeing this isn’t going to know the context (i.e. this is a protest). If you strip away the context, this is just a blatant public display of the fascist salute, which many there have wanted to do for so long but couldn’t because they feared the consequences. This could very well embolden them.

      Like, if you just look at the photo, it even straight out says “heil Tesla”, for crying out loud. If this is a protest, they did a piss poor job of it. At least put a clown makeup on Elon’s face, what are they even doing.

      Edit: some people can’t even read it seems."

      https://lemmy.world/comment/14629315

      Lol, no, that’s not why you got downvoted. You got downvoted for saying people don’t understand the context. Which is just a really bad take.

      • @barsoap@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Like, if you just look at the photo, it even straight out says “heil Tesla”, for crying out loud. If this is a protest, they did a piss poor job of it. At least put a clown makeup on Elon’s face, what are they even doing.

        You might want to put that into a quote block.

        And, no, the people from the centre of political beauty are definitely not Nazis, and neither are they amateurs. They’re professionals. Their list of exploits is long, and artistic, including building a replica of the Berlin holocaust memorial next to the house of Germany’s highest-ranking Nazi.

      • @nialv7@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Sigh, here we go again. Many people didn’t try to understand what I meant by context. No I wasn’t talking about the context of Elon doing a fucking Nazi salute on inauguration. Every one saw that on the news. I was talking about the context of seeing the photo of Elon Musk’s Nazi salute being projected onto the side of a building.

        That’s what was shared here, not the news article about it being a protest, not the video released later by the protesters (which is worth watching btw). So yeah, I stand by the claim that that photo itself can be taken out of context and be made to look bad. And in fact it is, I’ve seen far right assholes calling it based, and Germany is currently investigating it for its use of Nazi symbolisms.

        Is that enough? That’s not even the main thing my comment was about. What’s even the point? Neo-nazi is on the rise in Germany, and broadcasting Elon doing this shit will embolden them, and you want to talk about context.

        So fine, downvote me. I’m depressed to see people on my side can’t even muster two brain cells to think.

        • @barsoap@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          I was talking about the context of seeing the photo of Elon Musk’s Nazi salute being projected onto the side of a building.

          And everyone in Germany understood it as branding Tesla as Nazi. A big “Don’t buy cars from Nazis” sign. The cultural implication is “Own a Tesla? Better get a sticker distancing yourself or a packet of charcoal starters might find itself located on one of those tyres”.

          Nazis cheering for Musk is a different phenomenon.

    • macniel
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      192 months ago

      wouldn’t it be amazing when he would be put under arrest once he landed?

  • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔
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    482 months ago

    Musk’s words remind me of a prominent German leader who once also sought to keep Germany pure and prevent “the sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.” I’m having trouble placing the guy’s name though…

  • @x00z@lemmy.world
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    292 months ago

    If a billionaire meddles with anything related to politics, it’s lobbying. And if that lobbying is public, hateful and divides people, you know it’s nefarious and should be stopped as soon as possible.

    The man has everything he needs. The only thing he doesn’t have? Actual power. And he’s going for it.

    • Riddick3001OP
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      2 months ago

      The man has everything he needs. The only thing he doesn’t have? Actual power. And he’s going for it.<

      I get what you’re trying to say. But words can change stories, so here is a slightly different take:

      He has everything he needs and too much of it . Including power, that’s why he gets more and more, and way more than one can ever need in hundreds of generations.

      That’s also why he can do and say all kinds of shit, and get away with it. And that’s the problem. Our world shouldn’t facilitate that kind of power and power abuse, without accountability. But it has, and that’s why he’s a problem.

      Yet, he has been crossing some lines. And so, his public support and political clout is slowly diminishing. Seemingly, more financial institutions are starting to lose confidence in him, and dropping supporting him.

    • federal reverseM
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      32 months ago

      No need to ruin the entire day with a trip if the right-wing asshats will fawn over you all the same. Ultimately, influencing German politics is only another part-time effort for Elmo. Which can be seen in other ways too, such as mispelling Weidel as “Wiedel” in the announcement of his ralk with her or behaving condescendingly toward her.

  • @takeda@lemm.ee
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    162 months ago

    Most ironic thing is that an elite, globalist is an inspiration of anti elite anti globalists.

    • @jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months ago

      It’s almost like they use elite globalist to mean something that if they said out loud would end up with them in jail for hate speech. /S

    • @CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de
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      412 months ago

      Enough of a threat that 200 lawyers recently published an open letter calling for a ban, another 17 constitutional lawyers seeing a strong case for a ban etc.

      The last try banning an extremist right wing party (then NPD) failed due to the constitutional court seeing no chance that party could implement their policies. Nobody thinks that would be the case with the AfD.

      Also, the candidate for chancellor of the largest party, Friedrich Merz (CDU) just stated they’d work with the AfD on some laws (immigration and refugee issues namely).

      Basically, shit’s hitting the fan right now.

      • @lemmylommy@lemmy.world
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        172 months ago

        Also the other right wing populists in the European Parliament kicked them out because the don’t like to be associated with Nazis like the afd. That should tell you everything

    • TJA!
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      122 months ago

      Around 20% of the votes for the general election next month will be cast for the AfD

        • @Eril@feddit.org
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          82 months ago

          For one: Them getting more than 20% is scary and shows we have a big problem in our country. Also them being the second-largest party in Germany is insane to me. But by itself that is not enough to get into the government, it still needs some other party to work with them.

          Unfortunately the rhetoric of the CDU, which is the “just conservative” party is in my eyes pretty similar to the Afd at the moment and they are currently polling at around 30%. CDU decided on a ban working together with the Afd at all some years ago, but it never seemed more likely they would just drop that and then a potential coalition of CDU + Afd would have around 50% of the vote. Certainly enough to form a government. I’m still somewhat positive they would not actually decide to do that, but you know, by now I also would not be surprised anymore😔

          As a last resort I’m banking on our “supreme court” (Bundesverfassungsgericht ) to strike down the worst things, since it still seems to be intact, unlike in the US. But courts are slow and you can do a lot of damage even with stuff that is not clearly unconstitutional…

          • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔
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            32 months ago

            Damn. I appreciate this insight. I’ve been doing some reading and I can see how and why Germans are worried. 😖

    • trollercoaster
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      82 months ago

      A very big one. They are polling above 20% currently, and instead of countering them, the established parties are trying to fish for votes by copying their talking points. As one AfD politician already publically stated, they don’t need to hold any office in order to shape policy.

      The “conservative” CDU is already openly considering cooperating with them, after the election, they certainly will enter a coalition with them if that’s the path to office.

      The whole state of affairs in Germany is horrifyingly reminiscent of the situation in the late stages of the Weimar Republic.

      • 100_kg_90_de_belin
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        22 months ago

        Given the choice between far-right and far-left, parties like the CDU will always go with the fascists

        • trollercoaster
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          2 months ago

          The thing is that there isn’t even any noteworthy far left party left in the German political spectrum. Everything has shifted so far towards the right in the rat race of competing with the Nazis for Nazi voters, that even the self proclaimed “Left” party (“die Linke”, not the SPD, those haven’t been remotely left since Schröder’s chancellorship) is at best mildly social democrat these days.

  • @jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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    2 months ago

    Wait, you’re telling me his jet – which is being actively tracked on mastodon – just made a journey across the Atlantic, and it was not targeted by a bunch of drones?

    How is this possible?

    Edit: ahh, he spoke remotely. That makes more sense