This post was originally published on France24
He has called the German chancellor an “incompetent idiot” and the country’s president an “anti-democratic tyrant”. Perhaps such invective would not matter if Elon Musk did not have the influence that he does. But Europe is a key market for the tech billionaire, and it includes electric cars, space technologies and satellites – currently the topic of discussions between Musk’s SpaceX and the Italian government – as well as social media platform X, where Musk has streamed a conversation with the leader of Germany’s far-right AfD. That party is polling in second place ahead of crucial German parliamentary elections in late February. And of course, Musk has the ear of incoming US President Donald Trump.