{"id":2395272,"date":"2025-01-26T11:44:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/musk-tells-germans-to-move-beyond-past-guilt-in-party-speech-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T11:44:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:44:39","slug":"musk-tells-germans-to-move-beyond-past-guilt-in-party-speech-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/musk-tells-germans-to-move-beyond-past-guilt-in-party-speech-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk tells Germans to &#8216;move beyond&#8217; past guilt in party speech &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmusk-tells-germans-to-move-beyond-past-guilt-in-party-speech-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2395272&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent speech to the right-wing Choice f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) party, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, urged \u2062Germans to &#8220;move beyond&#8221; ancient guilt associated with\u200c World war II and the Nazi regime. Speaking\u2063 remotely at an AfD campaign event in Halle, he described the party as &#8220;the best hope for Germany,&#8221; encouraging\u200d attendees to take pride in their national identity and culture, without succumbing to what he called the dilution of multiculturalism. Musk asserted that children should\u2063 not feel\u200b responsible for\u2064 the actions of their ancestors, advocating a forward-looking perspective for Germany&#8217;s \u200cfuture.<\/p>\n<p>Musk\u2019s support \u200bfor the AfD has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-set-to-announce-425-million-ukraine-weapons-package\/\" title=\"US to announce 5M Ukraine weapons package.\">raised concerns internationally<\/a>, especially in light\u2063 of the party&#8217;s controversial reputation and its\u200c gains in recent polls. His \u200cremarks were met with\u2062 enthusiasm from the \u200bevent&#8217;s attendees,including AfD leader Alice Weidel,who praised \u200dMusk&#8217;s speech but drew critique from \u200bfigures like Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The growing popularity of the AfD,propelled by discontent over immigration policies,may\u2062 substantially\u200d influence the \u200dupcoming\u200c German elections,with the party positioning itself as a major contender\u200b in the political\u2064 landscape.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Musk tells Germans to &lsquo;move beyond&rsquo; past guilt in right-wing party speech<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1922352\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Tesla CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Elon Musk\">Elon Musk<\/a> encouraged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/germany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Elon Musk\">Germans<\/a> to &ldquo;move beyond&rdquo; historical guilt in a speech to the right-wing Alternative fur Deutschland party.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Musk&rsquo;s public support for the AfD, which began last month, represents his latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/world\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">international<\/a> political venture. After previously hosting a space with the AfD candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, Musk took his support a step further by remotely speaking to a crowd of AfD supporters at their election campaign kick-off in Halle, Germany. In his speech, Musk said that the AfD was the &ldquo;best hope for Germany,&rdquo; and urged the crowd to be proud of their German identity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. businessman Elon Musk is shown during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/johnny-depps-ex-kate-moss-testifies-that-the-actor-never-pushed-her-down-stairs\/\" title=\"Johnny Depp\u2019s Ex, Kate Moss, Testifies That the Actor Never Pushed Her Down Stairs\">live video link<\/a>, as Alice Weidel,  AfD candidate for chancellor takes to the stage, during the AfD&rsquo;s election campaign kick-off, in Halle, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Sebastian Willnow\/dpa via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I think that is just very important &hellip; that people take pride in Germany and being German, this is very important,&rdquo; Musk said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s OK to be proud to be German. This is a very important principle &hellip; it&rsquo;s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think we want to have unique cultures in the world. We want to have people that &hellip; we don&rsquo;t want everything to be the same everywhere, where it&rsquo;s just one big sort of soup,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Musk then addressed the sense of historical guilt for the crimes of the Third Reich that have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Out-Darkness-1942-2022-Frank-Trentmann\/dp\/1524732915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"defined Germany\">defined Germany<\/a> since its defeat during World War II.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s &hellip; frankly, too much of a focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People, children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their grandparents, their great grandparents, even, and we should be optimistic and excited about a future for Germany.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Weidel celebrated the speech on X, declaring, &ldquo;Make America &amp; Germany great again!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Elon Musk&lsquo;s great speech at our party convention! Make America &amp; Germany great again! &#127482;&#127480;&#127465;&#127466; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XHtMIBfOYh\">pic.twitter.com\/XHtMIBfOYh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Alice_Weidel\/status\/1883455266861232295?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Musk&rsquo;s remarks were greeted by cheers from the crowd. They were less well-received by international critics.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The words we heard from the main actors of the AfD rally about &lsquo;Great Germany&rsquo; and &lsquo;the need to forget German guilt for Nazi crimes&rsquo; sounded all too familiar and ominous. Especially only hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,&rdquo; Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/donaldtusk\/status\/1883485247633027457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>AfD is broadly considered a right-wing or fringe party. It is mainly characterized by its anti-immigration stance, which has won laudits among Germans disillusioned with the country&rsquo;s immigration system. It has surged in the polls this year, winning its first election in September in the formerly communist state of Thuringia.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Germany&rsquo;s snap elections on Feb. 23, triggered by the collapse of the ruling Social Democratic Party-led coalition government, Musk <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3266635\/musk-endorses-right-wing-germany-afd-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"threw\">threw<\/a> his support behind the resurgent party.<\/p>\n<p>The AfD has been growing in popularity since former Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to take in a large number of mostly Syrian refugees in 2015. Though the party has featured prominently in polls since 2015, it has always been locked out of the government due to a &ldquo;Brandmauer,&rdquo; or &ldquo;firewall,&rdquo; an agreement among all the major parties that they would not work with the AfD, viewing it as too extreme.<\/p>\n<p>That could change in February, as the party has taken the second spot in polling with 20% &mdash; above the ruling SPD Party. Another surging party, the eclectic left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tagesschau.de\/inland\/innenpolitik\/wagenknecht-umgang-afd-100.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signaled<\/a>&nbsp;that it may be willing to work with the AfD in a coalition.<\/p>\n<p>Even more promising for the AfD, Friedrich Merz&rsquo;s Christian Democratic Union recently announced it would introduce tough migration laws if elected, even &ldquo;if only the AfD supports our proposals.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We will introduce motions in the German Bundestag that are exclusively in line with our convictions,&rdquo; Merz told the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeit.de\/politik\/deutschland\/2025-01\/union-antraege-migrationspolitik-afd-zustimmung\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;news<\/a>&nbsp;agency <em>Deutsche Presse-Agentur<\/em> on Friday. &ldquo;And we will introduce them regardless of who agrees with them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The firewall has fallen!&rdquo; Weidel triumphantly <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Alice_Weidel\/status\/1882782184320504221\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"declared\">declared<\/a> on X after the interview.<\/p>\n<p>The exact label of the AfD Party is itself a source of controversy. Left-wing critics openly accuse it of being a neo-Nazi group.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The party has consistently rejected the far-right label, with its leaders&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/6\/germanys-far-right-afd-to-expel-members-over-links-to-militant-groups\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">saying<\/a>&nbsp;the party stands for &ldquo;the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">liberal democratic order<\/a> and has nothing to do with this suspected neo-Nazi grouping.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Other analysts take a more nuanced view, painting the party as a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/how-populist-is-the-afd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coalition<\/a>&nbsp;of different broadly right<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/musk-endorses-germanys-right-wing-afd-party\/\" title=\"Musk endorses Germany&#039;s right-wing AfD party\">-wing ideological factions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1922352\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1922352\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Musk urges Germans to &#8220;move beyond&#8221; historical guilt in AfD speech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2395273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Musk-AFD.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[3946,7413,4250,49221,32076],"class_list":["post-2395272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-germany","tag-guilt","tag-musk","tag-party-speech","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Musk-AFD.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2395272"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2395276,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395272\/revisions\/2395276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2395272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2395272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2395272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}