 "'Don't feed the troll': Olaf Scholz slams Musk as billionaire continues to push for AfD")
Amid the political turmoil in Germany, the country’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted to the recent barrage of insults hurled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Scholz referred to the world’s richest man as a “troll” and asked people to not pay heed to him. The remarks from the German Chancellor came while he was speaking to German weekly Stern.
Scholz dismissed Musk and insisted that the billionaire’s criticism is nothing new. “You have to stay cool,” he said in the interview. “As Social Democrats, we have long been used to the fact that there are rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics – and do not hide their opinions," he added.
The German politician made it clear that he would make no efforts to engage with Musk, who stirred headlines after he endorsed far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in next month’s federal elections. “I don’t believe in courting Mr Musk’s favour. I’m happy to leave that to others,” he said. “The rule is: don’t feed the troll.”
The remarks from Scholz came after the Tesla CEO pledged to host a live discussion on his social media platform X with its candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel. This was the most direct response the German chancellor delivered to Musk since the latter started his social media campaign.
Musk attempts to influence German elections
Earlier this month, Scholz urged his voters to not let the “owners of social media channels” decide the outcome of the general election. However, he did not take Musk’s name nor did he mention his platform X. After spending a quarter of a billion dollars to help secure Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Musk has been trying to influence elections in Europe.
In November when Scholz lost the no-confidence motion, Musk called the chancellor a “fool”. He reiterated his rhetoric after five people were killed and more than 200 injured in a Christmas market attack allegedly carried out by a Saudi-born assailant with far-right sympathies.
“Chancellor Oaf Schitz or whatever his name is will lose," Musk said as he tried to predict the outcome of the upcoming polls in Germany. During the interview, Scholz brushed off the comments Musk made about him and focused on the billionaire’s endorsement of AfD instead.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“What I find much more worrying than such insults is that Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts rightwing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,” said Scholz. The German chancellor also slammed Musk’s description last month of the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as an “anti-democratic tyrant”.
“The German president is not an anti-democratic tyrant and Germany is a strong and stable democracy – never mind what Mr Musk says,” the 66-year-old politician said. “In Germany, the will of the citizens prevails, not the erratic comments of a billionaire from the USA," he remarked.
The AfD is currently polling second before the general election and a strong showing for the party could complicate the coalition-building process. Several German mainstream parties have already ruled out collaborating with the AfD at the state or federal level.
With inputs from agencies.
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