Elon Musk
Musk says German election could ‘decide fate of the world’ at AfD event
Elon Musk spoke at a campaign event for Germany’s controversial Alternative für Deutschland, or Alternative for Germany (AfD), party over the weekend, ahead of an upcoming election in the country next month.
On Saturday, AfD candidate Alice Weidel posted a video broadcast of the event on X, which included a roughly-ten-minute speech from Musk, following his appointment last week as an advisor for newly-inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump. The AfD, which advocates for German nationalism, halting immigration into the country, preserving German culture and other related topics, has drawn concern and been called a far-right populist party by some critics.
The appearance comes ahead of a German election being held on February 23, which Musk says could “decide the entire fate of Europe, maybe the fate of the world.” During the speech, he also spoke about preserving German culture and the removal of bureaucracy from Brussels, along with being affirmed by Weidel and the audience about the recent election of Trump, who has advocated for similar deregulatory and anti-immigration policies.
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You can see the full broadcast from Alice Weidel on X below with Musk’s speech starting around two and a half hours in, or you can read the full transcript below that.
Mega-Wahlkampfauftakt mit Alice Weidel live aus Halle! https://t.co/eHzMOShPHR
— Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) January 25, 2025
Musk: Can you hear me? Okay, yes, unfortunately, I can’t hear you very well.
Wow, hello, everyone. I hope you can hear me well, the audio I’m hearing from my side is… I can’t hear you. So hopefully this, this is coming through. Please, please confirm that this you can hear me. Okay. I don’t know, raise your hand or something. Okay. All good. Okay, great.
Well, first of all, I wanted to really say that I’m very excited for the AfD and I think, I think you’re really the best hope for Germany. I think some things that… something I think that is just very important is that people take pride in Germany, and being German, this is very important. It’s, you know, it’s okay to be proud to be German. This is a very important principle.
It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything. I think we want to have unique cultures in the world. We want to have people that have… we don’t want everything to be the same everywhere, where it’s just one big sort of soup, you know, we want to have something where it’s… you go to different countries and you experience a different culture, and it is unique and special and good and that the German government takes actions to protect its citizens, and make sure that it seeks the health and well-being of the German people.
The German people are sort of, really an ancient nation. It goes back thousands of years. Read Julius Caesar’s account of, like, first encountering the German tribes in the Gallic campaigns. And he was like, “Very impressive. These are very, very powerful warriors.”
I think there’s, like, frankly, too much of a focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that. Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents or even, let alone their parents, their great grandparents, maybe even. And we should be optimistic and excited about a future for Germany.
That’s really what it is, to be excited, to be optimistic about the future, to preserve German culture and protect the German people. And you know, there are some other things that I think would be very helpful too, which is that, I think you want more self-determination for Germany and for the countries in Europe, and less from Brussels.
That’s my opinion. I think there’s too much bureaucracy from Brussels, too much control from sort of global elite. And you know, when I’ve given talks at these sort of global government conferences, what I’ve said is there should be “less global government, there should be more determination by individual countries.”
And so I very much hope that the AfD does well, and that Alice Weidel does become a chancellor. I think that would be very good for Germany, and I think it’s very important. I hope the German people unite and strongly support AfD.
You’re doing the right thing, is what I’m saying.
Let’s go guys, let’s go! Fight for a great future for Germany! Fight for a great future for Germany! Go go go, convince your friends, convince everyone, let’s go!
Get excited about the future, and if you want to make the future great, if you want the future to be great, you need to make it great, and fight for the future to be great. That’s how it becomes great.
Weidel: Let me try one thing, and I hope you can hear me. No, you can’t?
Musk: No, I think I can hear you now.
Weidel: Okay, yes, good. Entire audience, we wish you, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, all the best to make America great again. You’re the best. God’s blessing.
Musk: Exactly. I mean, I think we should fight for an exciting, bright future where people can be optimistic about what’s going to happen, where you wake up and you look forward to the future. And the best way to… ensure the future is good, you have to fight for a good future every day, and it will be great, and we’ll have a very exciting, wonderful future so…
I think this election coming up in Germany is incredibly important. I think it could decide the entire fate of Europe, maybe the fate of the world. That is the significance of this election. So that’s why it’s very important to talk to your friends and family and convince them to consider voting for AfD and then, and just go with it like a chain reaction, convince one friend, talk to another friend, and say “Hey guys, do you want more of the last ten years, or do you want something different?”
And I think the people in Germany want something different, and if you want something different, you have to vote for a different party. This is just a fact. This is logic.
So you are the future of Germany. Make it happen, but I can’t emphasize enough: go out there, talk to people, convince people, one vote at a time, there’s a need for change. It’s got to be done. And this election is so important, it’s extremely important. I do not say it lightly when I think the future of civilization could hang on this election.
So when something is so important, it’s you really need to say, “Okay, you’re going to go all out to convince people to vote for AfD.”
And you certainly… obviously you have my full support. I think the Trump administration is also supportive. So, you know, I think the policies that I’ve heard from AFD, they make a lot of sense.
They’re really just, it’s, you know… to me, when I look at the policies, they’re sort of, they’re common sense policies, and just like President Trump has common sense policies, getting things done, you know, getting the government out of people’s way so that you can get, you know, you can get things done, and giving people back personal freedom and protecting the people from dangers.
These are fundamental things that, frankly, the current government is not doing. Current government is suppressing speech very aggressively and really, when you suppress freedom of speech, it’s not it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to have a true democracy, because freedom of speech is the foundation of democracy.
People cannot be expected to vote in an informed manner if they are not able to know the truth. So, this is why it’s so important to have to have freedom of speech, so people can make an informed vote, and it can be a true democracy. But this is not what the current government has been doing. They have been suppressing freedom of speech and putting people in jail for even mild criticisms of politicians or social media posts. This is crazy. This is, this is, this is, frankly, a totalitarian approach. It is not a democratic approach.
So there needs to be… to restore freedom to the people of Germany and have freedom of speech and have less government oppression in general. So anyway, I think this is I can’t emphasize enough, go do everything you can, full blast. Put every effort you can into this election, this… the fate of the world, I think, rests upon this election in Germany. It’s extremely fundamental.
Everything you can, please go all out.
Weidel: Thank you, great. All the best for you, blessings.
Musk: Alright, and unfortunately, Alice, I can’t hear you. I wish I could hear you, but I can see the enthusiasm of the crowd. And… danke schoen. And, you know, go, go, go, fight, fight, fight.
Elon Musk’s past meetings with other world leaders and Donald Trump’s re-election
The speech follows Musk’s appearance at Trump’s inauguration earlier this week, during which the Tesla CEO performed what many said appeared to be a Nazi salute, which he later defended as a gesture meant to highlight his statement that his “heart goes out to all of you” after thanking the audience for helping to make Trump’s victory happen.
After the inauguration, Musk downplayed the gesture in a flurry of posts, including one on X, noting that he had apparently been called both a Zionist and a Nazi. In others, he reiterated his disdain for legacy media, adding that it would be “another nail in the coffin.”
“It was astonishing how insanely hard legacy media tried to cancel me for saying ‘my heart goes out to you’ and moving my hand from my heart to the audience,” Musk wrote in an additional post on X on Friday. “In the end, this deception will just be another nail in the coffin of legacy media.”
“Elon is a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu wrote on X following the event. “He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state. I thank him for this.”
Musk has also met with several world leaders over the past few years, even before his official endorsement of Trump last July. He has previously held meetings with Netanyahu and several others, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Argentina President Javier Milei, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Hungary President Katalin Novák, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Namibia Dr. Nangolo Mbumba, Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, and several officials in China, among many others still.
Many of these conversations have included similar concerns about immigration, population collapse and the need for people to have more children, the civilizational risks of AI and ambitions to make humans multiplanetary by landing on Mars, among many other adjacent topics.
During campaign events leading up to the November election, Musk used similar language to his January speech for the AfD, noting that “President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution” and “democracy,” and saying that it would “be the last election” if voters didn’t encourage others to register to vote.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk talks AI, birth rates and more at Italian conference
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Elon Musk
County vote hands Elon Musk’s Vegas tunnel network a huge new target
Clark County approved 19 more Vegas Loop stations, pushing Boring Company’s entitled total to 123.
The Boring Company just got permission to nearly double how far Vegas Loop can reach. Clark County commissioners approved 19 additional stations for the underground transit system, bringing the total entitled to 123, the company said in a post on X thanking the county for the vote. Elon Musk’s tunneling company also flagged the direction it sees the project heading long term. “Because Loop is point-to-point with no intermediate stops, in the limit, one could have a Loop station in every driveway,” the company wrote.
That framing captures how far the ambitions have moved. The Vegas Loop opened its first stretch of tunnel in 2021 and has grown its footprint through a string of county approvals since. In 2023, commissioners signed off on 18 additional stations, part of a plan that later doubled the system’s target to 69 stations across 65 miles. By the end of that year the company was describing a build out closer to 93 planned stations. Last year the long term design called for 104 stations across 68 miles of tunnel. The new approval pushes that number to 123, another jump in a project that keeps outgrowing its own blueprints.
The Boring Company gets approval for more stations in Las Vegas
Station count on paper is still well ahead of what riders can actually use. As Teslarati reported earlier this month, the network has about 11 open stations and has carried more than 4 million passengers since it began running, with newer stops at Fontainebleau and Sahara among the latest additions to the Strip corridor. A tunnel connection to Harry Reid International Airport remains under construction and has already slipped past its original first quarter target. The company is also racing to finish a Westgate to Paradise Road segment that Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill has said it hopes to have running in time for November’s Formula 1 race.
The gap between entitled stations and operating ones is where the real story sits. Regulatory approval gives Boring Company the legal runway to keep tunneling toward new resorts, residential pockets and eventually the airport, but building each connection still comes down to boring machines, fire safety sign offs and construction timelines that have slipped before. The company’s Prufrock series machines set an internal record in March with a 2.28 mile tunnel near Westgate, evidence that construction has been picking up even as the list of approved destinations grows faster than the tunnels themselves.
Musk’s driveway comment reads as aspirational rather than a near term plan, but it fits how Boring Company has talked about Vegas Loop from the start: treat every approval as a floor, not a ceiling, and keep pushing county officials for room to dig.
SpaceX announced today that it would expand its launch capabilities into a new U.S. state: Louisiana.
Today, SpaceX, in conjunction with the Louisiana Economic Development Office, said that it will establish a new launch facility, which it will call Starbase, Louisiana. It will be located near Vermilion Parish, supporting thousands of launches each year, at least eventually.
CEO Elon Musk commented by stating, “Starbase Louisiana will ultimately have over a dozen launch towers, enabling more than 30 Starship flights per day and making it the biggest launch site on Earth!”
Starbase Louisiana will ultimately have over a dozen launch towers, enabling more than 30 Starship flights per day and making it the biggest launch site on Earth!
SpaceX makes sci-fi real. https://t.co/C7Ht0U12ba
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2026
The expansion is SpaceX’s latest move to push its launch cadence to be more frequent than ever. SpaceX said that Starbase, Louisiana, will be built to “support thousands of Starship flights a year,” with the first coming in 2029.
SpaceX announced the new facility in partnership with the Louisiana Economic Development Office as it will bring a major influx of jobs and investments into the area. Currently, it will produce more than 3,000 new jobs in Louisiana, and SpaceX plans to invest at least $100 billion into the entire facility, ensuring that many jobs are created as a result.
Environmental Responsibility
SpaceX acknowledges the impact launches could have on marshlands, local wildlife, and water sources. Here’s how the company plans to help with the issues in Vermilion Parish:
- Restoring the Shoreline: “In Vermilion Parish, the shoreline is eroding between 3.3 and 23 feet per year. We’re partnering with state and federal agencies to expand Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects, including Gulf shoreline protection breakwaters designed to reduce wave energy and slow loss along the Gulf edge.”
- Rebuilding the Marshlands: “In working with the state, we’re planning thousands of acres of marsh creation using beneficial-use placement of dredged material and offshore sediment sources. Restoration will also include interior marsh bank stabilization and rebuilding marsh in remnant canals. These projects can reconnect fragmented wetlands, restore natural buffers against storms, and return habitat that has been lost to erosion and historic canalization.”
- Preserving Coastal Wildlife: “Pecan Island and nearby wetlands are high-value habitat for migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, and other coastal wildlife. SpaceX is not developing the full footprint of the land and will preserve wetlands and wildlife habitat. At existing launch sites, waterfowl and other birds continue to use nearby habitat during operations. Working with wildlife agencies, landowners, and conservation groups, SpaceX will support monitoring and management so this habitat stays productive and hunting, fishing, birding, and other recreational activities that are part of this coast’s culture can continue.”
SpaceX shares rose about 2.5 percent on the news.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk just set a condition that could end Falcon 9 as we know it
Elon Musk says SpaceX will finally retire Falcon 9 once Starship flies reliably every week.
Elon Musk gave the clearest timeline yet for retiring Falcon 9, SpaceX’s workhorse rocket.
The comment came in a reply on X, where Musk wrote that “once Starship is flying reliably several times per week, it makes sense to shift super scarce SpaceX engineering and production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day, which means winding down Falcon.” He was responding to physicist Casey Handmer, who noted that NASA is reportedly uneasy about SpaceX phasing out Falcon after building what Handmer called the most successful launcher ever, with the fleet nearing 1,000 total launches.
Now @SciGuySpace reports NASA is in a tizzy because after running the most successful launcher ever for more than a decade and nearing 1000 launches, @SpaceX is planning to retire Falcon in favor of Starship in a few years.
Sorry, NASA, you’ve had 15 years to burn down the… https://t.co/uCNoMwK0v9
— Casey Handmer (@CJHandmer) August 22, 2026
Falcon 9 is still SpaceX’s busiest vehicle by far. The company is on pace for roughly 140 to 145 Falcon flights this year, following 165 in 2025, president Gwynne Shotwell told Time earlier in 2026. She has already said Falcon flights would “tail off” as Starship comes online, while reports indicate that SpaceX has stopped booking new Falcon 9 launches past 2028 and halted production of some expendable Falcon hardware, according to Bloomberg.
It’s worth noting that Musk’s post is a condition, and not a countdown on when Falcon will retire. Starship has not yet flown weekly, let alone daily. Its most recent flight in July ended with a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, a milestone Musk pointed to earlier this month when he said the vehicle’s heat shield problem was effectively solved. SpaceX towed that ship to Christmas Island for inspection, and the next flight, Flight 14, is aimed at putting Starship into orbit for the first time. A tower catch attempt for the upper stage has been pushed back to what Musk has called “a few months” away.
SpaceX and a new Trump order that could rewrite the next decade of launches
The gap between Falcon’s role today and Starship’s promised role tomorrow matters most to NASA. Falcon and its Dragon capsule remain the only way the agency rotates astronauts to and from the International Space Station, and Starship is not certified to carry NASA crews. Musk’s post did not address how that handoff would work if Falcon winds down before a crew-rated Starship variant exists. The timing lines up with Musk’s other recent Starship comments. Two days before the Falcon post, he told a different X user that SpaceX is aiming for more than 30 Starship launches a day by 2030, or roughly 10,000 a year, a figure tied to the Trump administration’s new push for higher national launch cadence. Falcon, which took over a decade to reach its first 100 launches, was never built to approach that kind of volume.
For now, Falcon 9 keeps flying at a near-record pace while Starship works to prove it can do the job Musk has already picked out for it.
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County vote hands Elon Musk’s Vegas tunnel network a huge new target
