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Elon Musk praised the “very reasonable” co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany as he joined the tech billionaire for a discussion about Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump and the existence of aliens.

In the latest attempt by the world’s richest man to influence European politics, Musk hosted Alice Weidel for a conversation on his social media platform X and “strongly recommended” that Germans will return the AfD in federal elections on February 23.

He said: “I think Alice Weidel is a very reasonable person and I hope people will only know about this conversation . . . nothing outrageous is suggested – just common sense.“

At its peak, around 200,000 people watched Musk’s 75-minute X livestream with Weidel, which was falsely billed as “a conversation with Germany’s leading management candidate”.

The AfD, large parts of which are classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as right-wing extremists, is polling at around 19 percent and is on track for a second place finish in Europe’s largest country’s election – a result that its best performance in a national vote.

However, respected pollsters put Friedrich Merz and his center-right Christian Democrats in the lead, at around 31 percent.

Weidel, who is the AfD’s candidate for chancellor, repeatedly thanked Musk for the opportunity to speak without being “interrupted or negatively framed” – a situation he said was “completely new”. .

He tried to describe his party, which calls for the mass deportation of people with immigrant backgrounds, as “conservative libertarians”.

Musk, who has drawn criticism from European leaders for meddling in German as well as UK politics, invited Weidel to deny comparisons between his party and the Nazis.

This prompted a discussion in which the host and guest argued that Hitler was not right but a socialist.

That claim, popular in far-right groups, has been rejected by historians who say the German fascist movement oversaw the murder of 6 million Jews – as well as many Roma, disabled people, gays and communists – nothing to do with socialism though. branded itself the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

One of AfD’s most prominent politicians, the firebrand Björn Höcke, convicted and fined for using banned Nazi slogans.

Musk’s backing of the far-right party represents a rare intervention in the German election campaign by a key confidant of US president-elect Trump.

This has deeply unsettled Germany’s mainstream parties, as well as fueling a renewed debate in Brussels over whether X and its owner are breaking EU digital rules by meddling in politics. and promoting accounts that spread disinformation and extremist views.

The platform had about 4mn monthly active users in Germany in December, according to data from Similar weba digital market intelligence company.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – described by Musk as “an incompetent fool” – responded to the interventions of the chief executive of Tesla by emphasizing the need to “keep cool” and not “feed the troll “.

But Merz described a recent article by Musk, outlining his support for the far right, as an unprecedented “case of interference in the election campaign of a friendly country”.

The conversation between Musk and Weidel gradually changed from a discussion of AfD’s core themes, including immigration, taxation and the virtues of nuclear power, to an appeal from the politician to serial entrepreneur to explain his views on the Middle East conflict, Mars, the existence of aliens and whether or not he believes in God.

Weidel also said he felt “physical pain” over how the German media and politicians treated Trump during the US presidential election campaign and expressed hope that he would end the conflict in Ukraine.

He also praised Musk for his “beautiful words” and his “vision”.

Additional reporting by Clara Murray and Javier Espinoza