What do Elon Musk and AfD leader Alice Weidel have in common? | Berlin Briefing Podcast

X owner Elon Musk hosted a livestreamed talk with the co-leader and chancellor candidate of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), Alice Weidel, on his social media platform on January 9. Although Musk billed Weidel as the ‘leading candidate to run Germany’, the AfD is polling second place ahead of early elections set for February 23, somewhere in the region of 20%, and is unlikely to get into government as all other parties have ruled out cooperating with a party that’s being investigated as far-right extremist.

In this episode of Berlin Briefing, DW’s Nina Haase and Michaela Küfner break down the content of the chat together with American journalist Kate Conger, co-author of “Character Limit – How Elon Musk destroyed Twitter”. From energy, immigration, and Israel, Ukraine and Nazi Germany, to free speech and Musk’s stated desire to colonize Mars – the conversation was peppered with misinformation and highly controversial statements (“Hitler was a communist”), and its many topics are analyzed by the team to build a picture of what was in it for the tech billionaire and for the co-leader of Germany’s far-right party.

Further information:

DW live blog on Musk + Weidel chat

Kate Conger tour dates and more

More on the AfD’s foreign policy

DW Berlin Briefing episode on the AfD

CHAPTERS

RSS feed DW Berlin Briefing

For more news go to

For more news, analysis and background information on the German election 2025 go to our dedicated page

Follow DW on social media: ►Instagram: / dwnews ►TikTok: / dwnews ►Facebook: / deutschewellenews ►Twitter: / dwnews

Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: / dwdeutsch