Understanding the Moment

Something’s happening here ... will current world leaders grasp it fast enough to stem the far-right tide?

We’ve seen this movie before … have we ever. Right-wing extremists in several countries are whipping disgruntled “populists” — unhappy with their jobs, or the price of eggs, or uppity women — into a frenzy, focusing their grievances on the most convenient usual scapegoat —the Other. Immigrants especially, but anyone of a different religion or color or sexual orientation will do.

The “populists”— perpetually aggrieved, low-information voters, easily gulled and herded into the embrace of wealthy authoritarian Daddy figures, by promises that Daddy alone can fix all their problems and put them back on top of the heap where they rightfully belong.

Oh, we’ve seen it before alright — an endless procession of tyrants lovingly worshiped by the useful idiots they oppress. Just in the last century, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pinochet, Putin, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orbán. And now our very own Donald Trump.

We have already seen in the last month, even before he takes office in January, an explosive preview of the dysfunction, destruction and chaos he is unleashing on America— a country he truly hates and wants to destroy. A country he has already launched a treasonous, murderous insurrection against.

Tragically, too many Americans share his views. Trump has a doggy adoration for an unelected South African neo-Nazi welfare queen billionaire who’s already sucking this country dry. Elon is leading Donnie by the nose and assuming the power of the presidency, while actively cultivating the support of a new Axis around the world —and this registers barely a blink.

As Alex Neguyen reported yesterday,

Elon Musk appears to be leaning even further into a full neo-Nazi embrace. Following his social media assault to block a congressional spending bill meant to avoid a government shutdown, the tech billionaire took to X and described the racist, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as Germany’s last, best hope.

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” he posted on X early Friday. He was responding to Naomi Seibt, a young German right-wing influencer—the Washington Post dubbed her the anti-Greta Thunberg for her climate change denialism—whose caption in part read, “The presumptive next chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is horrified by the idea that Germany should follow Elon Musk’s and Javier Milei’s example.” Similar to Argentina President Javier Milei’s “chainsaw” policies, Musk has promised $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending as co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The AfD, faster on the uptake than Republicans in this country — too busy with their circular firing squad and powdering their noses for the cameras — saw the global propaganda value of the de facto leader of the American Republican party’s Nazi endorsement, and pounced.

The online endorsement from Mr. Musk garnered a quick response from Alice Weidel, the AfD’s top candidate. “Yes! You are perfectly right,” she posted just an hour after Mr. Musk’s post went up.

Some Democrats did apparently register what a black mark it painted on America…even the NYTimes stirred from its normal servile crouch toward all things trump.

It also echoed in Washington, where Democrats and even a few Republicans raised alarms, pointing out Mr. Musk’s heavy influence on Mr. Trump.

“Literally is a neo-Nazi party. Not even joking,” Adam Kinzinger, a Republican former congressman from Illinois and longtime critic of Mr. Trump, posted on X.

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview with CNN, ”This is not normal.” He added, “What Elon Musk thinks tends to eventually be what the president of the United States thinks. And if the United States takes an official position in favor of neo-Nazis in Germany, I mean, it is absolutely catastrophic.”

The AfD is polling at 19 percent, and its leaders appeared ready to make the most of the post, apparently hoping that it could help attract more voters and serve as a jumping-off point for communications with the Trump White House.

Musk is also increasingly going global with his attempts to influence elections. He previously has shown interest in funding other anti-immigration parties, such as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, in which reports suggest he has contributed as much as $100 million. Musk met with Farage earlier this week at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the donation.

So what we have is a dupe, a tool, a puppet for foreign tyrants, about to claim the Oval Office and become the leader of what we once called the Free World. But is his, and his party’s true goal to be the agent of annihilation of the Free World and deliver us to the henchmen, collaborators and gas chamber attendants of a new fascist World Order?

The AfD is controversial even among other European far-right parties because many of its leaders are not shy about expressing Nazi sympathies. In May, France’s far-right party led by Marine Le Pen split from the AfD in its European Parliament coalition after the German party’s top candidate, Maximilian Krah, said that a person was “not automatically a criminal” just because they had been a member of the SS, Adolph Hitlter’s paramilitary organization.

As my colleague Isabela Dias wrote, many Germans consider the AfD party as ethnonationalists who want to mass deport all “unassimilated citizens” with non-German ethnic backgrounds. The country’s domestic intelligence agency designated the AfD as a “suspected extremist group” back in 2021 and is currently holding the party under observation.

Musk has been a vocal supporter of right-wing, anti-immigration voices on X for years and has blasted criticism aimed at the AfD. Last year he denounced Germany for giving money to charities and rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. With the AfD in second place behind Germany’s current centrist ruling coalition and a “snap” election being held in February 2025, the stakes are high.

But American Republicans for the most part, seem happy to reward Musk and his Nazi pals with even more power.

In the US, many Republicans support Musk’s growing political influence. “The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on X early Thursday. “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk.”

“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House,” wrote Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, who reposted Paul. “The establishment needs to be shattered.”

“The establishment” — the United States of America — needs to be shattered, says a sitting member of Congress.

A standard, barely sentient Republican member to be sure, but one of too many who share the same doggy devotion to any authoritarian who scratches their little heads or throws them a handful of kibble.

Are we the proud America we once were, heroes and victors to the world for triumphing over the greatest evil the world knew then — or are we going to become ourselves that evil?

The election is over, but the outcome is not inevitable.