Elon Musk, a US tech billionaire, doesn’t hold back with his opinions on Germany. After the attack in Magdeburg, he called for the resignation of Chancellor Scholz (SPD), despite the fact that the process for new elections had already been initiated by Scholz himself.
Musk posted a statement on his platform X, in which he claimed that the AfD is the only party that can save Germany. This opinion can be debated. For the World on Sunday, Musk elaborated on his views, with Jan Philipp Burgard responding in a counterargument, a controversy in the best sense.
However, the editor of the opinion section at the World, Eva Marie Kogel, saw it differently and submitted her resignation, citing the publication of Musk’s statement as a reason. She announced her resignation on Musk’s platform X, a move that remained uncommented upon for a while.
Maren Müller, the chair of the “Permanent Public Conference of Public Broadcasting Media” commented on the event, saying that it’s her style of humor to ridicule the leader of the opinion section for resigning over a statement that deviates from the mainstream opinion.
Musk’s arguments are rather weak. He criticized the German economy for being stifled by bureaucracy and regulations, calling for a reduction in bureaucracy, tax cuts, and deregulation. He also advocated for a different energy policy, including the return to nuclear power and the development of battery storage for grid stabilization (which coincidentally is a product and service Musk produces and sells). The word “sanctions” was not mentioned in the conversation.
The incident illustrates not so much why Musk is a threat to German democracy, as some, like the German President Steinmeier, have claimed, but rather how the respect for other opinions in Germany is faring.