Elon Musk won't let up: Steinmeier called a "tyrant" on X

By Jörg Ratzsch, Christoph Zeiher

Washington/Berlin - US billionaire Elon Musk (53) continues to make headlines with his comments on German domestic politics. He is operating under a new name on his X platform.

After German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (66, SPD), German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (68) has also been insulted on the X profile of US billionaire Elon Musk.

The account of the Tesla boss, who is considered a close advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump (78), reads in English: "Steinmeier is an anti-democratic tyrant! Shame on him."

When asked, the Office of the Federal President said that it had taken note of the comment, but would not comment on it.

Musk's comment refers to a post by an AfD-affiliated influencer who attacked Steinmeier after he had spoken out against outside influence during his speech on the dissolution of the Bundestag a few days ago.

The head of state had also explicitly mentioned Platform X.

Musk, who is known for his provocative and frequent postings on his platform, has been causing unrest in German politics for days. At the weekend, he once again campaigned for the AfD for the "Welt am Sonntag" newspaper with a view to the elections on February 23.

After the break-up of the traffic light coalition, the Tesla boss had already attacked Scholz on X, writing in German: "Olaf is a fool." On Monday, he followed up with another X post in which he slurred the chancellor's name and predicted that he would lose the election.

Musk's account with more than 200 million followers is now called "Kekius Maximus" and has a frog figure as its profile picture. Explanations for the renaming and the meaning of the name were not initially available.