By Bill Ponton
“Hands off our Democracy” has now become the rallying cry of the German ruling establishment and press. In a recent interview with the German magazine, Spiegel, Green chancellor candidate Robert Habeck was asked if he believed Musk to be a danger to Germany. He responded with the following.
He [Musk] will do anything to push through his interests. The combination of immense wealth, control over information and networks, the use of artificial intelligence and the will to ignore rules is a frontal attack on our democracy. Just because he comes across as relaxed and builds electric cars, we should not be deceived. There is only one answer: Hands off our democracy, Mr. Musk! We cannot afford to be careless or naive. Germany has long been in the sights of foreign actors – especially now during the election campaign. They see Germany as an easy target. Unfortunately, disinformation campaigns have a relatively easy time of it here.
I guess from Habeck’s viewpoint, it is just fine for a European billionaire like George Soros, with murky ties to the Nazis in his youth, to interfere in U.S. politics, but it is intolerable for a U.S. billionaire to tweet a few words about the current German ruling establishment. It seems a little unfair to Musk. After all, it is not like Musk is funding a paramilitary group such as ANTIFA to stir up trouble prior to the presidential election. Moreover, as far as I know, Musk is not pouring millions into the campaign coffers of prosecutors who will go on to unleash a crime wave across their country. Musk is just stating the obvious that the current German ruling elites are fools.
Life is full of ironies though and one might live to see the next German Chancellor award said U.S. billionaire with the Medal of Freedom just as our fading, feckless leader has done for said European billionaire.