Trump and Musk’s interference in European politics threatens liberal democratic order: Expert

LONDON, Britain- (AA)

US President-elect Donald Trump and his close ally billionaire Elon Musk are the “greatest example of a threat” of foreign interference, said a British expert, who warned that the rules-based liberal democratic order is under a huge risk of “death.”

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who is set to serve as an advisor to Trump, has come under harsh criticism for his meddling in European politics through his X platform.

He has made controversial remarks about the political matters of European countries including Italy, Germany and the UK and has also come under strong criticism from Germany’s political establishment over his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of a snap election in February.

Amelia Hadfield, head of the politics department at the University of Surrey, described the issue as a “social media rampage,” saying Musk has taken aim at governments and has a targeted focus on usually a particular individual.

“It’s sort of a forensic attack when you drill down into it, but it’s also very widespread. It’s very spread across in terms of who his approaches seem to be targeted on.”

She noted that it feels as if these “taunts are really quite deliberate” and sort of “manipulative” on the one hand and designed to “provoke,” while on the other hand, he’s well aware that he’s not merely involving himself but interfering.

“I feel there is going to be a ramp-up between now and the presidential inauguration on the 20th of January. So I feel it is a strategy designed to compound nervousness in allies and perhaps jangle even more nerves in countries who are not sure whether they’re an ally or not,” she added.

Hadfield said that on January 20, Musk will no longer be just a multi-billionaire and huge tech entrepreneur but also part of Trump’s presidential cavalcade, meaning it will complicate even further how the West is going to be able to deal with him.

She noted that Musk expressing support for the AfD on X and his recent discussion with the party’s leader, Alice Weidel, put pressure on the European Commission as well as European governments “because the commission is in charge of enforcing Europe’s Digital Services Act, the digital rule book, if you like, and the point of that act is to police and to enforce social media platforms.”

However, she noted that political willingness as well as technical evidence is needed to be able to prosecute Musk, saying these are complicated times for the European Union, especially once he is part of the Trump administration.

Turning to Trump’s “repeated threats” of a trade war with Europe, she noted it would be particularly damaging for Germany and German exports if a tariff as high as 20% is imposed.

“So I think there’s real worry, and that can only be countered by very real pushback as well.”

She said the question in this case is whether Musk is being “goaded by Trump” to undermine centrist parties across Europe as a whole.

For her, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has played “very canny games” thus far, as indeed, she has with a lot of the EU by trying to onboard aspects of Musk “but not encouraging him to explicitly align himself with elements that would make him appear even more difficult to deal with.”

“I would agree that Musk and Trump pose the greatest example of a threat of foreign interference. At the same time, I do feel that much of it is taunt based, bullying based. It’s distinctly performative.”

She said that more broadly, it is aimed at the liberal democratic order.

“If the liberal democratic order does not take it seriously, then we will see the death of the rules-based liberal democratic order. So the stakes, frankly, could not be higher,” she added.