Elon Musk and the far-right German leader agree that Hitler was a communist

Elon Musk on Thursday agreed with the leader of a far-right German political party that Adolf Hitler was a communist and that left-wing groups that support Palestinian causes have more in common with the Nazis than with her own party.

The deeply strange and misinformation-filled conversation between Musk and Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), took place on X. It came after weeks of efforts by Musk to boost the far-right party, which has deep connections to neo-Nazism and has been monitored for suspected extremism by Germany’s own intelligence services.

“(Hitler) was a communist and considered himself a socialist,” Weidel said in response to Musk’s question about media reports linking the AfD to Nazism.

“The greatest success after this terrible era in our history was to label Adolf Hitler as right-wing (s) and conservative, he was the exact opposite,” Weidel said. “He wasn’t a conservative, he wasn’t a libertarian, he was a communist, a socialist, and we’re the opposite.”

“Exactly,” Musk replied.

In his autobiography My struggleHitler – who as leader of the German Reich was responsible for the invasion of the Soviet Union and the enslavement and death of millions of its citizens – repeatedly described communism as the enemy of the German nation. He believed that Marxism was a Jewish plot to control Germany and the world.

Weidel also compared the views of the Nazi Party to those of contemporary left-wing political groups that support Palestine in the face of what a UN commission called crimes against humanity committed by Israel. While her AfD colleagues were seen last month attended a secret meeting organized by former members of a militant neo-Nazi group known for burning the Israeli flag, she said: “The AfD is the only defender of the Jewish people here in Germany.”

Weidel is the AfD’s candidate for chancellor in Germany’s snap election next month. As someone who previously worked in finance and lives in Switzerland with his Sri Lankan wife and their children, she is portrayed as a relatively moderate figure for the party.

It’s something Musk picked up on in an op-ed he wrote last month for a German newspaper.

“The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremists is patently false, given that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a Sri Lankan same-sex partner,” Musk wrote. “Does that look like Hitler to you? Please!”

Ahead of Thursday’s talk, the EU said it would monitor the event to see if it was artificially advertised to voters in Germany, something that would be in breach of the region’s overarching Digital Services Act rules. A spokesperson for the European Commission told WIRED that it would not comment on the content of the live broadcast.

Weidel referred to the EU’s involvement in the conversation, claiming 150 staff at the European Commission had been eavesdropping, then claimed the DSA was a censorship tool, before adding: “You know what Adolf Hitler did? He shut down free speech. He controlled the media and without that he would never have succeeded.