this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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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.

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[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 194 points 6 days ago (6 children)

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.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 106 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I miss when rich guys just bought sports teams

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 59 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] A7thStone@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago

That shows how good they were at rehabilitating their image. How did those "philanthropists" get the money to build the libraries?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_strike

[–] PlasticLove@lemmy.today 27 points 6 days ago

I miss when they had their heads chopped off.

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago (3 children)

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

[–] rayyy@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Buy government, get money from government, buy another government - rinse and repeat.

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

It's like those leveraged buyouts that were all the rage a few years back

[–] Curiousfur@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Doubled in the past month. ~$220 Billion to $440 Billion or something.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 11 points 6 days ago

Buying governments really pays off it seems.

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

When i hear stats like this, it makes money seem a lot less valuable

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Money is completely fake, especially stock market money. Too bad we have to pretend it's real so we can pay our landlords etc.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 1 points 5 days ago

Basically just one of those idle clicker games at this point...

[–] benni@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 21 points 6 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 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is a much more reasonable take than what you said earlier, as much as I'd prefer it were not true.

[–] benni@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Seems we have different definitions of "in the government."

[–] benni@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 4 days ago

No, I get your definition, I just disagree with it.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days 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.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

He's . . . he's a CEO isnt' he?

[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Didn’t you hear? He’s the new president of America, just elected by the people, with his secretary Trump by his side

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 6 points 6 days ago

Elected by billionaires, not the people

[–] Breve@pawb.social 5 points 6 days ago

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