The AfD's Economic Populism Could Hardly Be Shallower
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party styles itself as populist and anti-elite. Yet it maintains close relationships with tech elites like Elon Musk, who was among the first to congratulate the party on Sunday’s election win.
The Alternative für Deutschland started out as a party opposed to public borrowing. But the anti-immigration party has changed its economic line as it seeks to forge an alliance between workers, small firms, and the superrich. (Halil Sagirkaya / Anadolu via Getty Images)
It took less than an hour. No sooner had it become clear, this Sunday, that the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was by far the strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt than Elon Musk offered his congratulations on X. The nationalist party’s lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, replied immediately, in English, offering “strong and constructive cooperation” and promising that, under AfD leadership, Germany would once again become “a place worth investing in.”
This is the first time that a state chapter of the party, which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as “confirmed far-right extremist,” has actually won a state. The exchange on X marked the latest in a string of public overtures between the world’s richest man and the AfD.
This episode warrants closer examination, because it raises a question that is often overlooked in the German debate: What is the AfD’s actual stance on capital? The answer is more contradictory than the image of the tech-savvy billionaire and his new political ally might suggest.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.