Chancellor Scholz fires back at Elon Musk as he begs voters not to let ‘social media channel owners’ decide the election after Tesla boss insisted ‘only the AfD can save Germany’
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has attacked Elon Musk and begged voters not to let the ‘owners of social media channels’ decide the country’s upcoming elections, after the Tesla chief said only the AfD party could ‘save Germany ‘.
Germans will go to the polls in parliamentary elections on February 23 after a fractious coalition government led by Scholz, made up of his Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, ended in collapse.
In his upcoming New Year’s speech, which will be broadcast tonight around 7 p.m., the SDP leader hinted at a recent standoff with Musk, who has backed the AfD and called on Scholz to resign following a deadly attack in Magdeburg. .
Germany’s future “will not be decided by the owners of social media channels,” Scholz said in the speech.
‘It won’t be the person who shouts the loudest who will decide where Germany goes from here – rather that will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.
‘I appeal to you today: please vote! “If you look around the world, you will know what a great achievement free and fair elections are,” he added.
The world’s richest man doubled down on his December 20 comments that “only the AfD can save Germany,” writing that the anti-immigration AfD was the “last ray of hope for the country” on the “edge of cultural and economic collapse.” .
Despite several branches of the AfD being labeled “extremist” by Germany’s domestic security service, Musk said the AfD’s classification as far-right was “clearly untrue” as party leader Alice Weidel “has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka” .
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured) has lashed out at Elon Musk, pleading with voters not to let ‘social media channel owners’ decide the country’s upcoming elections
Elon Musk (pictured) wrote earlier this month that the anti-immigration AfD was the “last ray of hope for the country” on the “brink of cultural and economic collapse”
The elections come in the wake of the deaths of five people and more than 200 injuries in a car ram attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on December 20, fanning the flames of a debate over immigration restrictions and a tougher stance. about deportations.
Germany has been on high alert for weeks after the terror attack in the city of Magdeburg, in which Saudi doctor Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, crashed his rented SUV into a crowd at the Christmas market.
Nine-year-old André Gleißner was killed and at least 235 people were injured in the horrific rampage, dozens of whom authorities say remain in serious condition.
Police are still wondering why Abdulmohsen attacked the market, the prosecutor indicated that the medic’s complaint about Germany’s treatment of Saudi dissident asylum seekers could be a possible motive.
Abdulmohsen – who was arrested next to the battered vehicle – has expressed anti-Islam views, anger at German immigration officials including former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and support for far-right narratives about the “Islamization” of Europe.
Abdulmohsen reportedly donated his entire fortune to the German Red Cross, but he did not include any political message in the document.
He was remanded in custody on five counts of murder and several attempted murders, and of causing grievous bodily harm, prosecutors said Saturday evening, but so far not on any terrorism-related charges.
The 50-year-old is currently being held in a high-security prison near Magdeburg, where he is constantly monitored by cameras and made to wear paper clothes “so he doesn’t hang himself in his cell,” according to tabloid Bild.