The first thing that hits you about Elon Musk is the goddamn smirk—a crooked little banner of defiance that says, “Yeah, I did it, and I’ll do it again.” This isn’t the grin of a man dreaming of electric cars and Martian utopias; no, this is the face of someone who’s figured out the cheat codes to the whole miserable game and doesn’t mind letting you know.
To that extent (and hopefully only to that extent), the emerging pater familias of the extreme right in the West — or at least its Sugar Daddy — shares a common personality trait with Joseph Stalin, the Goblin Overlord of the extreme left and one of the worst mass murderers of the 20th Century. Stalin understood it was not enough to lie. He needed people to know he was lying, and to know that he could lie with impunity.
Musk isn’t just the richest bastard on the planet; he’s a living, breathing monument to the unholy trinity of power, money, and madness. In recent years, though, his ideological gyroscope has started spinning wildly, tilting hard and fast into the shadowy fringes of the far-right circus—a chaotic mess of paranoia, bravado, and the kind of blind ambition that leaves scorched earth in its wake.
Money, politics, dystopia
This also isn’t some run-of-the-mill yarn about a tech billionaire sticking his nose into politics. No, Elon Musk has shot past the usual libertarian eccentricities of his Silicon Valley brethren like a Tesla on autopilot headed for a brick wall. He’s morphed into a full-blown ideological warhorse, hurling his obscene fortune and unchecked influence behind far-right zealots, nationalist strongmen, and the kind of authoritarian vultures who dream of gilded thrones atop smoking ruins. The man who sells himself as humanity’s savior, a techno-prophet leading us to the stars, seems hellbent on dragging us back into the darkest cesspools of our collective history.
Musk has, once again, plunged headfirst into controversy—this time with what many saw as a grimly familiar flourish during a Trump inauguration party. Call it what you will, but the arm movement had all the grace and subtlety of a Nazi salute at a beer hall putsch. Cue progressive outrage. Cue the chorus of Musk loyalists, leaping into the digital trenches to defend their cyber-messiah. “It’s just a wave!” they howled, frothing like a Reddit Mod on Meth-amphetamine. “He has autism!” others chimed in, as if that somehow turns a loaded gesture into an innocent gaffe rather than a grotesque wink at the ugliest corners of history.
The whole spectacle was less Silicon Valley and more Triumph of the Will—with a side of unhinged Twitter fandom. Sadly, there's no avoiding his bizarre penchant for arm-flailing stunts that evoke memories of Nuremburg rather than the Silicon Valley ethos of “move fast and break things.” Unless of course the thing you are moving fast is “through Belgium” and the thing you are breaking is "Democracy."
Bankrolling the Right
Let’s start with the money trail, because where billionaires invest their fortunes, they also invest their values. Musk’s financial fingerprints are all over the far-right ecosystem. In Germany, he’s been one of the loudest advocates for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party with roots so deep in neo-Nazi ideology that they still stink of bunker sweat. Musk called them Germany’s “last spark of hope,” which must have sent a chill down the spine of anyone who remembers how well the last “hope” for Germany turned out.
Then there’s the $50 million he poured into Citizens for Sanity, a political action committee designed to blast progressive policies while championing MAGA-style populism. Musk didn’t stop there. He created America PAC, a financial juggernaut that funneled over $200 million into Donald Trump’s campaign – and he made a personal contribution of $75 million, ensuring that the chaos of the Trump era would come roaring back for a sequel.
And in case that wasn’t enough to make his allegiances clear, Musk flirted with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, even meeting with him at Mar-a-Lago like two Bond villains plotting world domination over overpriced steaks. The meeting did not go well and Musk subsequently turned against Farage.
But it’s not just money. Musk has repeatedly lent his public support to figures like Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League and an avatar of British nationalism. When Robinson was sentenced to prison, Musk didn’t shy away—he doubled down, defending him and drawing praise from the kind of people who think tiki torches make great protest accessories. Robinson’s supporters claim Musk will fund his legal defence, but in fairness to Musk who in their right mind believes anything a Nazi says. Oh wait…
Bolsonaro, Europe, and the Tech Bro Empire
Musk’s alliances aren’t confined to the English-speaking world. In Brazil, he cozied up to Jair Bolsonaro, the Amazon-burning strongman who gleefully gutted environmental protections in the name of economic growth. Musk claimed he was there to promote Starlink’s rural internet access, but the photo ops told a different story. The pair looked like old friends who’d spent a weekend brainstorming ways to terraform the Amazon into a SpaceX launch site.
Meanwhile, Musk has been moonlighting as Europe’s self-proclaimed savior. In 2025, he tweeted his support for the “Make Europe Great Again” movement, a Trump-inspired slogan dripping with the same dog-whistle politics that defined Brexit and MAGA. He’s pushed for immigration restrictions and championed policies to “preserve German culture.” Translation: keep Europe white and scared.
What makes Musk dangerous isn’t just his bank account or his Twitter megaphone. It’s the way he blurs the line between troll and true believer. Musk revels in the plausible deniability of his actions. He’ll fund far-right causes and then tweet something absurd about AI or colonizing Mars, distracting the public with shiny objects while his money quietly builds the scaffolding for a new authoritarian age.
The Musk brand—quirky genius, rebellious innovator, tech pioneer—is a cultural gaslight of epic proportions. Every Tesla that rolls off the production line, every rocket that bursts through Earth’s atmosphere, becomes a justification for ignoring the darker truths. “But he’s a visionary,” his defenders cry, as if the ability to build a rocket gives one moral immunity.
The Consequences of Overlooking the Obvious
Here’s the reality: Elon Musk is no enigma. He’s a man with a pattern, and that pattern is loud, clear, and deeply troubling. So the next time Musk raises his arm or throws his weight behind a far-right cause, remember this: Even in the original German, Wenn es wie eine Ente quakt, ist es eine Ente. And Elon Musk? Lately, he’s been quacking up Der Stürmer.
What to learn more before the Ministry of Truth shuts down the debate. My sources are your sources (except for the confidential ones): The Guardian, Pravda, Politico.eu, Euronews, New York Times, Politico, New York Magazine, Bloomberg, and AP.
