Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help get President Donald Trump back in the White House.
But the U.S. isn’t the only place in the world where the tech billionaire is wading into politics. And Bill Gates accused Musk of some “insane shit.”
Musk has said over the past month that only the far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD, can “save Germany.” Over the weekend, he addressed the Afd and urged them to “take pride in Germany” and reject feelings of guilt tied to the nation’s history of their parents or grandparents.
His interest in Germany and politics elsewhere in Europe, after he poured money and energy into helping Trump win the U.S. election, has set off alarm bells among politicians across the continent. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive also has demanded the release of jailed U.K. anti-Islam extremist Tommy Robinson and called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government tyrannical, claiming Starmer should be in prison.
Gates, speaking to The Times, said this has him alarmed.
Gates:
“It’s really insane that he can destabilize the political situations in countries. I think in the US foreigners aren’t allowed to give money; other countries maybe should adopt safeguards to make sure super-rich foreigners aren’t distorting their elections.
“It’s difficult to understand why someone who has a car factory in both China and in Germany, whose rocket business is ultra-dependent on relationships with sovereign nations and who is busy cutting $2 trillion in US government expenses and running five companies, is obsessing about this grooming story in the UK. I’m like, what?
“You want to promote the right wing but say Nigel Farage is not right-wing enough… I mean, this is insane shit. You are for the AfD.
“We can all overreach… If someone is super-smart, and he is, they should think how they can help out. But this is populist stirring.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
