“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” Musk added, to cheers from the crowd of some 4,500 people.
Donald Tusk, prime minister of Poland, said Musk’s speech sounded ominous to him.
“The words we heard from the main actors of the AfD rally about ‘Great Germany’ and ‘the need to forget German guilt for Nazi crimes’ sounded all too familiar and ominous. Especially only hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,” Tusk wrote, referencing the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the most-infamous Nazi death camp.
Speaking Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, also lamented that Musk’s remarks so closely correlated with the Auschwitz anniversary, while Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, wondered why President Donald Trump has not spoken out against Musk’s remarks.
Musk’s initial endorsement of the AfD last month drew strong rebukes, including from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who said the tech billionaire’s support of the far-right “endangers” European democracy. Musk has recently thrown his support behind multiple far-right European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Reform U.K. Party leader Nigel Farage (though he subsequently turned on Farage, saying he “doesn’t have what it takes”).
The billionaire entrepreneur also spent over a quarter of a billion dollars in the 2024 election cycle to get Donald Trump elected president and was rewarded with an influential position leading the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk, a close adviser to the president, made waves on Monday during Trump’s inauguration celebrations after making a stiff-armed salute that critics were quick to liken to the Nazi “Sieg Heil.”