"The Alternative for Germany is the last spark of hope for this country," Musk writes in a guest article for the Sunday edition of Die Welt newspaper.
Musk had last week just briefly commented on the online platform X, which he owns, "Only the AfD can save Germany."
Only the AfD can save Germany — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://t.co/Afu0ea1FvtDecember 20, 2024
With Germany's election due on February 23, the AfD is in second place in the polls with around 19 per cent, behind the conservative CDU/CSU with more than 30 per cent.
All parties currently represented in the German parliament have ruled out co-operation with the AfD.
In the article Musk explains that he believes the AfD would take the right positions on the issues of economic recovery, energy supply and control of migration.
He also said that he sees the AfD as committed to what he called "political realism".
Musk writes the "portrayal of the AfD as far right is clearly false when you consider that Alice Weidel, the leader of the party, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you?"
Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is monitoring the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist organisation.
Jan Philipp Burgard, the future editor-in-chief of Die Welt Group, contradicted Musk's statements in the newspaper.
"Musk's diagnosis is correct, but his approach to therapy, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong," he wrote. Both articles - Musk's and Burgard's - are placed directly next to each other in the printed newspaper.
The Musk article has caused trouble within the newspaper's editorial team.
The opinion editor of the paper posted on X that she had "submitted (her) resignation after proofreading" as a consequence of the Musk text.
Ich habe immer gerne das Meinungsressort von WELT und WAMS geleitet. Heute ist in der Welt am Sonntag ein Text von Elon Musk erschienen. Ich habe gestern nach Andruck meine Kündigung eingereicht. — Eva Marie Kogel (@emkogel) https://t.co/Ss1FNGiwALDecember 28, 2024
Other Die Welt journalists also publicly posted their displeasure on X.
Media reports suggest the publication of Musk's guest article triggered a fierce controversy within the editorial team before Christmas Eve.
The publisher of Die Welt, Axel Springer, issued a joint statement from Ulf Poschardt, the current editor-in-chief of Die Welt Group, and his successor Burgard.
"The current discussion about the text by Elon Musk is very revealing," the statement says. "Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression."
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