Elon’s British Invasion

Raheem Kassam
Despite his former affinity for Musk, Kassam now believes that the world’s richest man is having a deleterious effect on politics writ large. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Tara Palmeri
January 8, 2025

Having successfully inserted himself into U.S. politics, Elon Musk is now turning an eye toward a few of the major powers in Europe—namely, Germany and the U.K. In recent days, he endorsed Germany’s far-right AfD party, whose leader he plans to host on an X livestream this week; and last week, he spent several days on the platform attacking Keir Starmer, Britain’s Labour prime minister. He simultaneously praised the right-wing populist Reform UK party of Nigel Farage, the Brexit artist who has become a fairly common sight at Mar-a-Lago, while also saying Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party… just hours after Farage described Musk as a “friend” in an interview on the BBC. Heavy stuff.