Since Elon Musk raised his right arm at President Donald Trump’s inauguration rally, there has been ongoing debate about whether or not the gesture was simply a thoughtless show of enthusiasm or the much more sinister Hitler salute. Although the intentions behind this gesture are up to interpretation, the fervor with which Trump’s senior adviser supports Germany’s far-right extremist party undeniably links the Trump administration to Nazism.
Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) joined the country’s federal parliament in 2017, becoming the first party to do so since the country’s reunification in 1990. According to the American-German Institute, the party “gained support after adopting xenophobic and Islamophobic positions following the refugee crisis in 2015. It has continued to adopt extreme right positions, so much so that members and branches have come under investigation for anti-constitutional activities.”
One of these alarming anti-constitutional activities is the use of Nazi slogans, an act deemed illegal in numerous countries since the end of the Third Reich. According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD party in the state of Thuringia, has twice been fined by a German court for using a banned Nazi slogan.”
Additionally, members of the AfD have consistently attempted to trivialize the Holocaust. In 2018, AfD co-founder Alexander Gauland referred to the era of Hitler and the Nazis as a “speck of bird poop in more than 1,000 years of successful German history.”
On Sunday, Germany held an election to fill the seats of the federal parliament. Although a majority of the seats went to the conservative democratic alliance of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, 20.8% of the seats were filled by AfD members. This number represents a doubling of the party’s support in the past four years.
One of the party’s most vocal supporters is Musk, the head of the American Department of Government Efficiency. Not only did Musk call to personally congratulate the AfD Chancellor Alice Weidel after the election, but he has been an avid supporter of the party in the months leading up to the election.
In December, Musk wrote a guest opinion article for Welt am Sonntag, Germany’s sister publication of POLITICO, in which he claimed “Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country.” The publication of the piece led the paper’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, to resign from her position in protest.
Other signs of protest against Musk and his agenda have risen throughout the Western European country; Euronews reported a 59% drop in Tesla car sales in Germany last month. This majority of German people who still atone for the history of the country have no interest in associating with Musk’s brand, indicating national recognition of Musk’s affiliation with Nazism.
The AfD is a political party that unashamedly diminishes the Holocaust, utilizes mantras of the party that caused the event almost a century ago and champions discriminatory policies that are emblematic of the same laws put in place by Hitler in the mid-20th century. By showing outright support for that party, Elon Musk is aligning the American executive branch (which already seems to sympathize with the ideals of the Nazi party in practice if not in words) with Nazism, an act that will have serious repercussions on global politics if it is not halted.
Sophia Rooksberry is a junior studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Sophia know by tweeting her @sophiarooks_.
