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A notorious disseminator of fake news
Musk has no place as a guest contributor in any serious newspaper, says the taz:
“It is not pluralism to allow those who want to abolish that very pluralism to have their say. Musk recently called for Wikipedia to be boycotted because it doesn’t conform to his political ideas. He wants to suppress the opinions of others. Anyone who says they are giving someone like that space in their publication for the sake of diversity of opinion is making themselves comfortable with a pseudo-liberalism that ultimately amounts to totalitarianism. In addition, Musk is a notorious disseminator of fake news and should not be considered as a guest author simply because of his lack of seriousness.”
Double standards
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung can’t understand all the outrage:
“Would an appeal for the Greens by American billionaire George Soros trigger similar reactions? It most certainly didn’t when Soros did this in 2019, shortly before the European elections. Nor did Vladimir Putin’s opinion pieces in Die Zeit in 2021 and Handelsblatt in 2017 trigger this kind of media earthquake. At the time Russia had already invaded and annexed Crimea in violation of international law. The outrage over Musk’s opinion piece is therefore hypocritical and once again highlights how things stand with freedom of expression in Germany: it is only acceptable when it coincides with the views of progressive-minded centrism.”
The hypocrisy of Eurocracy
Criticism of Musk’s election appeal highlights the double standards of German and European politicians, writes the website wPolityce.pl:
“Coming from a man who will be a member of another country’s government in just a month’s time, this op-ed can be seen as arrogant and as interference in Germany’s internal affairs. The article was published after another terrorist attack in Germany in which a man from Saudi Arabia drove into the crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring dozens more. … But the outrage in Germany and Europe over Musk’s opinion piece is as great as the hypocrisy of the Eurocracy, which has shamelessly indicated which US president it would like to see in office.”
Worrying
Les Echos warns:
“Musk’s forays into the realm of politics and geopolitics is harmful, as we have seen in Ukraine. And the case of Germany is also worrying. Musk believes that having a factory in Berlin gives him the right to support the far-right AfD, which he describes as ‘the last ray of hope for Germany’. In reality it is a xenophobic, pro-Putin and pro-Russian party. What’s more, it is also anti-American, like the French RN. … But Elon Musk isn’t stopping there, he’s also infatuated with its British equivalent led by Nigel Farage. The richest man in the world must not be allowed to become the most powerful man in the world.”
Germany stands to lose big time
Musk and Trump are weakening Berlin in two ways, warns L’Opinion:
“They are doing this first of all politically, with the boss of Tesla, X and SpaceX is vociferously intervening in the election campaign. … Coming from a person who is popular with a large proportion of young people and is close to the future US president, such statements can only bolster the AfD, which is already second in the polls. … The second is economic, with Trump planning to increase import tariffs. Along with China he has Germany in his sights because of its large export volumes, and the latter has a lot to lose. After the halt to Russian gas deliveries and the decline in exports to China, a drop in business on the US market would see the last pillar of its industrial model crumble.”