What’s AfD, the Far-Right German Party Musk Embraced?

When Elon Musk posted on X that the only thing that could “save Germany” was the AfD, he was embracing a political party that has moved progressively toward the extreme right since it was founded in 2013. The Alternative fuer Deutschland has little chance of becoming part of the next ruling coalition because other parties have ruled out working with it. Still, opinion polls put the AfD neck-and neck with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats ahead of a snap election on Feb. 23. The anti-immigration and pro-Russian AfD is popular with voters disillusioned with the mainstream parties, particularly in the former communist eastern regions.

The AfD was founded just over a decade ago by a group of disgruntled economists and ex-politicians who wanted Germany to abandon the euro and block a bailout for struggling European Union partner Greece.