Recent outbursts by tech billionaire Elon Musk against German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier could potentially lead to a serious strain in German-American relations. Rolf Mützenich, the SPD’s parliamentary group leader in the German Bundestag, accused Musk of crossing a boundary between friendly states with his statements.
Musk had written on X on New Year’s Eve: “Steinmeier is an antidemocratic tyrant. Shame on him.” Mützenich told the Spiegel that Steinmeier represents Germany in international law. The verbal attacks on the Federal President therefore target all citizens.
Musk is a special envoy of the next US President, Donald Trump, and has recently made several statements on German politics. He called Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) a “fool” and advocated for the AfD.
Mützenich called on the federal government to clarify, after Trump’s inauguration in January, whether the repeated disrespect, defamations, and interference in the election campaign, uttered in the name of the new US government, will continue. He noted that the international challenges can only be tackled in an unstrained relationship between us and the USA.