Elon Musk’s recent endorsement of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has once again highlighted the shifting political landscape in the West. AfD, a party known for its xenophobic, ultra-nationalist rhetoric, has now found an unlikely ally in one of the world’s most influential tech billionaires. However, this endorsement is part of a much broader pattern—one that reveals a far more unsettling reality about the political alignments of the United States.
Time and again, the current US administration has shown its unabashed support and align with the most extreme, racist, and far-right elements across the globe. From tacit support for Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa to figures like Tommy Robinson in the UK, from emboldening France’s far-right factions to standing by Netanyahu’s ultra-right policies in Israel, and now, indirectly boosting AfD in Germany, the pattern is undeniable. Gone are the days when the US could claim to be the global champion of democracy and human rights—it has stripped off the mask entirely.
With such overt alliances, Washington has lost any remaining pretense of holding the moral high ground. The world has begun to see through the hollow rhetoric of democracy promotion, realising that US foreign policy is more about consolidating power and controlling resources than upholding the rights of people. The question now is not whether these verbal endorsements will translate into further ground-level turmoil, but rather how long it will take before these alignments cause irreparable damage. What remains clear, however, is that the façade of righteousness has crumbled—the illusion of America as the great beacon of democracy no longer holds sway.