A private citizen of the U.S. (and Canada and South Africa) has full rights to expound on foreign governments, even if he is also the richest person in the world and even if controls his own social media site X, once known as Twitter. But Elon Musk is also a de facto top official in the soon-to-be Trump administration, almost an unofficial deputy president, causing a problem with overseas friends and allies and perhaps foes. Musk needs to stop, although we doubt he will.
Musk shocked European observers this week with an opinion piece for German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, in which he supported the far-right extremists called Alternative for Germany, or AfD, weeks before a key German election, writing that “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country.” This was the culmination of support he had already been expressing on X, where Musk will go after everyone and anyone at the drop of a hat.
It’s very bad for someone who spent hundred of millions to aid Donald Trump’s victory and is a top advisor to Trump and who attends all kinds of meetings and who will be running the “Department of Government Efficiency,” and who even lives at Mar-a-Lago, to be picking favorites in other people’s elections. But it’s even worse that Musk is siding with a group that has been likened to a Nazi nostalgia party and which all other Germany parties, on the left, right and center, refuse to join in governance.
Musk can’t have it both ways. He likes to speak freely on topics on which he has some interest — though often apparently cursory knowledge — like any other citizen, and he certainly has the full legal right to do so. But he also now has a direct association with the incoming presidential administration, in a role that is pseudo-governmental and certainly understood to be speaking to some extent on behalf of it.
If he wants to pontificate, he should step back from his involvement in Trump transition decision-making, but otherwise he should understand that he doesn’t just speak for himself and has the capacity to damage U.S. interests on his own.
Weighing in on a key election in a staunch ally is something that a high-level official would typically either not do at all or do extremely carefully, with a statement workshopped with career staff. We very much doubt that Musk, famous for firing employees who disagreed with him, is consulting with experts on what to say in these matters.
Yes, he’s not actually at the levers of U.S. government power (at least not yet), but speech alone, coming from the right interlocutor, can have pretty significant impacts on international relations and diplomatic maneuvering.
It’s not just Germany. Musk has turned his eye to other important U.S. allies, particularly the United Kingdom, where he’s gone on a long tirade against Prime Minister Keir Starmer and defended imprisoned far-right anti-immigrant campaigner Tommy Robinson, a figure radioactive to the point that even right-wing political figures like Nigel Farage have kept their distance.
As part of this tantrum, Musk responded affirmatively to a suggestion that King Charles should dissolve Parliament, appearing to both misunderstand the British parliamentary system and endorse a monarchist view for the country, which is to say a semi-authoritarian one.
He’s going to keep blundering around and will do some real damage if allowed. Perhaps his pal Trump would do well to rein him in.