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Elon Musk faces criticism for encouraging Germans to move beyond 'past guilt'
NPR ^ | January 27, 2025 | Rachel Treisman

Posted on 01/27/2025 3:38:06 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

Fresh off a controversy over a gesture many saw as a Nazi salute, tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared virtually at a campaign event for a far-right German political party on Saturday, where he urged listeners not to be ashamed of their country's history.

Musk — the head of President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency — was met with roars of applause from the more than 4,000 attendees gathered in the German city of Halle as he appeared on screen at a rally for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.

"I think you really are the best hope for Germany," Musk told them.

Musk was introduced by party co-leader and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, whom he endorsed and praised effusively during a more than hour-long conversation live-streamed earlier this month on X, the social media platform he owns.

Since Germany's president dissolved parliament in December, he has accused Musk of trying to interfere in Germany's national elections, which are scheduled for Feb. 23.

Musk, the world's richest man, has waded into politics in other European countries, throwing his support behind far-right leaders such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and trolling Britain's center-left government.

On Saturday, Musk spoke repeatedly about the importance of Germans taking pride in their heritage.

"It's good to be proud of German culture and German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything," Musk said.

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Germany
KEYWORDS: elon; elonisnoeloi; elonmusk; racheltreisman
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1 posted on 01/27/2025 3:38:06 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Good advice considering any German who was alive during WWII is either dead, or VERY old.


2 posted on 01/27/2025 3:40:01 PM PST by EvilCapitalist (Pets are no substitute for children)
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To: MinorityRepublican

So just how long, hate filed Alt Left, are they suppose to wallow in their supposed guilt?

The Germans of today are the great grandchildren of the Nazis.

At some point this garbage propaganda from the Alt Left needs to start being laughed at instead of taken seriously


3 posted on 01/27/2025 3:41:52 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Don't blame me, my congressman is MTG!)
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To: MNJohnnie

Given how long ago we got rid of slavery, and white man is still evil, I’d say never...


4 posted on 01/27/2025 3:45:04 PM PST by kosciusko51
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To: MNJohnnie

Conversely, leftists are proud that communism killed >100 million people.


5 posted on 01/27/2025 3:47:20 PM PST by rfp1234 (E Porcibus Unum)
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To: kosciusko51

Have the communists ever paid repentance for Holodomore?

Or the Turks for Armenian genocide?

Nope. Only Germans and white Europeans / Americans must pay.


6 posted on 01/27/2025 3:47:40 PM PST by imabadboy99
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To: MinorityRepublican

Germans my age (53) that I have met are morally ambivalent about WWII. That’s not good. Sort of a fine line here. Own WWII but don’t let that mean you have to let the entire 3rd world into Germany.


7 posted on 01/27/2025 3:53:21 PM PST by Sam Gamgee
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To: MinorityRepublican

I don’t think you can hammer a national psyche forever without creating something dangerously reactive in it.


8 posted on 01/27/2025 3:56:03 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

The source of WWII, exactly.


9 posted on 01/27/2025 3:58:39 PM PST by GingisK
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To: MinorityRepublican

But German guilt is the foundation of the rules based international order.

If the Germans start taking their own side what will happen to the Global American Empire?


10 posted on 01/27/2025 4:00:58 PM PST by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et de phrases)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Gaslight Media fabulist Rachel Treisman weighs in.

These Media brownshirts are becoming tiresome. Didn’t the November election give them the memo about how useless they are?


11 posted on 01/27/2025 4:09:57 PM PST by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: Jim Noble
But German guilt is the foundation of the rules based international order.

If the Germans start taking their own side what will happen to the Global American Empire?

It works against us too because ever since IKE, the Military-Industrial-Complex has been running this country.

12 posted on 01/27/2025 4:10:34 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: EvilCapitalist

Defund NPR tomorrow


13 posted on 01/27/2025 4:14:49 PM PST by iamgalt
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To: MinorityRepublican

All the World War II Germans are dead. It’s time to get over it. The leftists, leftist Germans included, want to punish Germans until they no longer exist. The leftists is practicing genocide by propaganda and humiliation.


14 posted on 01/27/2025 4:16:07 PM PST by wildcard_redneck ( )
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To: EvilCapitalist

“Good advice considering any German who was alive during WWII is either dead, or VERY old.”

I agree, I once teased a German friend as we were watching a WW2 movie and I was rooting for the American, so he started rooting for the Germans and I gave him a dirty look. His face turned to complete guilt - so I told him, it’s ok, you had NOTHING AT ALL to do with it.

Until recently I thought that the idea of beating the horrors of the Nazi past into Germans was a good idea, especially compared to Japan which was just as horrific (perhaps more so), but instead pretty much hides that from their people. Now I ask a simple question: Which of the two will be around in 20 years as a coherent nation, and which will be in civil war.


15 posted on 01/27/2025 4:19:14 PM PST by BobL
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To: wildcard_redneck

**All the World War II Germans are dead. It’s time to get over it.**
I dunno. The mind think is still there. Saw it on cruise ships. Buttheads & a—holes.

Saw the same thing in Japan. When given a choice between doing the right thing or doing their duty it’s their duty they’ll do. Think kamikaze pilots.


16 posted on 01/27/2025 4:20:57 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: EvilCapitalist

DUH!! We have MORE ANTI SEMITES HER than in Germany,most likely!


17 posted on 01/27/2025 4:21:51 PM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Working with a large group of Designers from around the world at Mercedes Benz / Freight-liner Portland,OR. in the early 90’s we all used to hang our on the weekend and drink and play soccer, basketball darts etc.
As the evening wore on the English guys would bully the Germans about the war.
One of our newer, younger Germans was new to this and responded his first time hanging out with us….
“Yes. We lost the war. We will learn from our mistakes and do it better next time.”
Dead silence in the bar. We Americans all had a good laugh at the expense of our English counterparts.
18 posted on 01/27/2025 4:26:03 PM PST by MotorCityBuck (Keep the change, you are filthy animal! )
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Your passion for collective ethnic punishment comes straight from a leftist mindset and the absurd feeling of moral superiority the Allies, particularly the French and British, had at the conclusion of World War I.


19 posted on 01/27/2025 4:30:22 PM PST by wildcard_redneck ( )
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To: wildcard_redneck

YES! The past is history. As long as we learn to not repeat the same mistakes, all is well.


20 posted on 01/27/2025 4:34:30 PM PST by P8riot (You will never know Jesus Christ as a reality in your life until you know Him as a necessity.)
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