Apologies to Karl Marx, but a new” threat is disturbing Europe”, and it’s not the leftist movements that frightened 19th Century “old Europe”, as Marx called it in his famous book” The Socialist Manifesto”.
In the alarming view of the country’s contemporaneous political leaders, the threatening specter comes not from a dramatic kept movement but from a burgeoning far right.
And its knight is not a figure well-known in extreme circles. Nor is the looming danger yet European. Instead, it is Elon Musk, the high-tech witch and the world’s richest person.
The South African-born Musk has launched a blitzkrieg of democratic criticism aimed at democratic institutions on the globe in person and through information on X. He appears to prefer far-right, ultra-nationalistic and racist parties, whose progress raises anxiety of a totalitarian revival in Europe.
Musk’s statements and actions may have once been seen as democratic tirades from an oddly vocal oligarch. Nevertheless, he carries a heavy calling card: close relationship with US President-elect Donald Trump, president of Europe’s most important alliance.
Musk benefited Trump’s great graces by handing him tens of millions of dollars to aid him with his election campaign and by speaking at demonstrations in support of his candidacy.
He has since from changed his mind about the upcoming Trump presidency, which will take office on January 20. Musk has been asked to find ways to cut US government spending with a salary of$ 1.
He may purchase the lower pay: he pioneered and runs Tesla, the founding electric vehicle maker, SpaceX, a company that makes rockets that launches most US satellites into space, and Starlink, which delivers online services from low-Earth orbit satellites. Additionally, he is the owner of Twitter’s social media big X.
Another American moguls—notably Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg – have gone out of their way to welcome Trump’s vote and pay homage to him by visiting Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s beautiful Florida property.
Musk, on the other hand, got behind Trump first and took up residence at a Mar-a-Lago set he apparently rents for US$ 2, 000 a day.
Does this all mean Musk’s choices in Europe reflect Trump’s wondering? During his time in the White House, Trump frequently treated allies as ingrates who refused to contribute to NATO’s efforts to defend the globe.
Musk’s information seems broader and more angry, i. e. German politics need to be recreated in line with Trump’s” America First” idea. While fully only an assistant on budget issues, Musk’s activities have immediately spread abroad.
” That should be a worrying development for US allies, particularly in Europe, where domestic politics are already vulnerable to destabilization”, wrote Parliament Magazine, a London-based chronicle of European political affairs.
Indeed, the attacks Musk has made on the most powerful allies have suffocated a continent that is already destabilized by weak governments facing economic difficulties and a nearby conflict in Ukraine.
Elections are in Germany the following month. France has elected its third prime minister in three years. How long and how much to support Ukraine against Russian aggression is a contentious issue for the European Union as a whole.
After leaving the EU in 2016, economic issues are proving to be more than the forecasts for a post-Brexit rainbow.  ,
Musk’s anti-Europe campaign began last year. He has interjected himself into , Germany’s national elections, set for next month.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is engaged in a battle to avoid losing ground to the far-right Alternative for Deutschland ( AfD ), the Alternative for Germany, in order to avoid a center-right challenge.
In early January, he held an online interview with Alice Weidel, the AfD leader who is running largely on an anti-migration platform. ” Only the AfD can save Germany, end of story”, Musk declared during the pair’s conversation.
He also criticised Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, the leader of the British Prime Minister, for allowing children to groom them sexually ten years ago while he was a top government prosecutor. Musk called for his ouster and suggested the US ought to “liberate” Britain from its “tyrannical government”.
He kicked off his campaign by backing anti-Muslim firebrand Tommy Robinson, who is currently serving time for libel over claims that a Syrian refugee had assaulted British school girls.
Officials from all over Europe have voiced outrage, but they have all made sure to concentrate on Musk and not Trump’s.  ,
Scholz urged everyone to” stay cool,” despite noting that” Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is right-wing extremism, preaches rapprochement with Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations.”
Starmer avoided his harshest criticism for opposition Conservative party members who refuted Musk’s claim that he had a sexual orientation issue, but he still called it a lie despite saving his harshest accusation against the accusation.
What are the politicians here doing to defend the truth? Stamer asked. ” Once we lose the anchor that truth matters, then we are on a very slippery slope”, he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is trying to fight off a surging right-wing challenge in advance of 2027 elections, accused Musk , of” supporting a new international reactionary movement and intervening directly in elections”.
Without mentioning his name, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez harshly criticized Musk. He said a far-right movement that “openly attacks our institutions, stirs up hatred” was being led” by the richest man on the planet”.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis indirectly criticized Musk for claiming that “global economic players” have become excessively involved in” shaping public opinion.”
Members of the European Parliament, meanwhile, have spoken of trying to curb X’s influence by applying anti-disinformation laws to tether its operations.
However, it will be left to Trump’s incoming cabinet to rein in Musk if Europe is hesitant to take up the matter with Trump ( possibly because it fears he may privately agree with Musk’s comments and activities ).
The secretary of state, secretary of defense, and the president’s national security advisor are typically in charge of foreign policy. If they believe that Musk is eroding American alliances and encroaching on their territory, it will be up to them to file a complaint.
But there’s no sign of that yet. No one inquired whether Musk was speaking directly to the president’s incoming administration during Senate confirmation hearings this week for two of the nominees for president: secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida who once ran for president, and defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, a former television news commentator.
Will the outspoken billionaire listen, even if Trump eventually attempts to gag Musk? ” Even without the president-elect, he has the wealth and connections to exert his will on politics worldwide”, wrote The Atlantic Magazine this week. ” Musk is here as long as he wants to be.”
China appears to be in agreement that Musk may be a force to reckon with forever. When a law enforcing a ban on its use in the US, Singaporean sources told the Wall Street Journal that China might sell TikTok, the Chinese social media giant, to Musk. The US Congress has condemned TikTok for claiming to be under the control of China’s Communist Party.
The video-sharing app’s creator, Musk, is a naturalized version of the law, and Congress has pressed for its control. Musky has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping personally and runs a large Tesla plant in China. China officially blesses him as a “friend” of China.
Friendship may not be enough, though. The report about Musk’s potential purchase was described as “pure fiction,” according to TikTok officials. Chinese Communications Ministry, meanwhile, has said it would “firmly oppose” any forced sale of TikTok’s assets.