• Tesla boss Elon Musk has publicly thrown his support behind a far-right political party in Germany.
  • German official Christiane Hoffmann said Musk is free to express his opinions, but they’re the “greatest nonsense.”
  • The outspoken CEO said “Only the AfD can save Germany” and criticized traditional German political parties.

Elon Musk has become increasingly political, but his ambitions aren’t just about cozying up to Donald Trump. Quite the opposite as he’s been meddling in German elections.

Earlier this month, the Tesla and SpaceX boss used an opinion piece in Welt am Sonntag to endorse the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. This obviously didn’t sit well with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which is currently in charge as they hold 207 seats in the Bundestag.

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The AfD only holds 77 seats, but they’re looking to gain more during elections in February. They have Musk’s backing as he’s previously posted “Only the AfD can save Germany.” The outspoken executive has also claimed “traditional political parties in Germany have utterly failed the people.”

Interestingly, this comes a little over a year after he posted “I have not ‘supported’ any political party and don’t know AFD from a hole in the ground.” That’s quite a turnaround and not everyone is impressed.

That appears to include German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann as DW quotes her as saying, “Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election through his statements.” She added “He is free to express his opinion,” but it’s the “greatest nonsense.”

While Musk’s ties to South Africa and the United States are widely known, Tesla has a Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory. It’s been targeted by environmentalists and an arsonist. There have also been reports about high absenteeism and that’s on top of a host of other issues facing manufacturers in Germany.