South African-American billionaire and US kingmaker Elon Musk has doubled down on his support for Alice Weidel, the Chinese-speaking leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Saturday, a day before Germany’s election that is being seen as crucial for the future of Europe.
All German mainstream parties have said they won't work with the AfD.
Musk reposted a German-language tweet that translates to: “Alice Weidel is the leader we need now. Give a thumbs up if you agree.” The tweet features Weidel in warrior attire, clad in metal armor and riding a horse, with a blurred army and German flags in the background.
Musk reposted the picture with a thumbs-up emoji.
This isn’t Musk’s first show of support for the Weidel. Just before Christmas last year, he had posted a six-word endorsement: “Only the AfD can save Germany.”
According to the Time magazine, Weidel initially thought Musk’s Christmas post was a hoax. She refreshed her feed, checked the source—@elonmusk—then called an aide to confirm.
“I actually almost fell from my chair,” she recalled.
Musk isn’t alone in backing Weidel. US Vice President J.D. Vance met her during his first official European tour.
While attending the Munich Security Conference, an event the AfD was barred from, Vance reportedly held a private meeting with Weidel in the basement of the Westin Grand, where he was staying.
They apparently discussed the war in Ukraine, German domestic politics, and the Brandmauer...the firewall preventing ultra-nationalist parties like AfD from joining ruling coalitions.
So who is Alice Weidel? The 46-year-old, who speaks fluent English and Mandarin, is raising two sons with her Sri Lankan-born lesbian partner who is a film producer. Weidel holds a doctorate in economics from China and has worked for Goldman Sachs, Allianz Global Investors and as a freelance business consultant.
Weidel and her film-producer partner live with their adopted children,in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. While Weidel has always supported civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples, noting she is a lesbian herself, Trump has always been a constant source of danger for queer people around the world.
Her background makes her an unusual figurehead for a male-dominated, anti-immigration party that claims to uphold traditional family values.
Now, Weidel is poised to lead the 12-year-old AfD to a record result in Sunday’s election.
Last week, Time magazine asked Weidel why the Trump administration supports her. Lowering her voice, she said: “There might be something personal behind it.”
She pointed to Trump’s grandfather, Frederick Trump, who emigrated from Germany in the late 1800s. Those blood ties, she suggested, may have led Trump to wonder: “What’s going on with the continent of our grandparents?”
Four candidates are running to be Germany's next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the centre-left Social Democrats; Friedrich Merz, the candidate of the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union party; current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, of the environmentalist Greens; and Weidel.
