Musk plays politics abroad as world leaders brace for Trump’s return

CNN — Elon Musk’s personal foreign policy of promoting far-right parties is sparking outrage among leaders in Europe and handing them a dilemma: How do they rebuke the tech titan without angering his new patron — Donald Trump? “Will Musk be carrying out Trump’s foreign policy agenda, acting as a personal ambassador of Trump to everywhere?” said Lindsay Gorman, managing director and senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. They’re demonstrating a belief that their strength allows them to bully smaller countries and may augur a new and brasher incarnation of “America First.” European leaders line up to condemn Musk Musk’s attacks — conveyed to his 211 million followers on X — have snapped the patience of the leaders of some of America’s closest traditional allies and stoked already elevated transatlantic tensions ahead of Trump’s second term. In other distortions of the truth, Musk also claimed Jess Phillips, the government safeguarding minister, was “pure evil” and a “wicked creature.” Starmer warned that “those that are spreading lies and misinformation, as far and as wide as possible – they’re not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.” He added: “When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, then in my book, a line has been crossed.” Despite Starmer’s tough tone, the showdown with Musk is unwelcome turbulence for a prime minister, who, like all other world leaders, has been trying to build a relationship with Trump to spare his nation from the worst consequences of a new US foreign policy built on forcing American might on friends and foes alike. He has already sat in on calls between Trump and world leaders like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose forces use Musk’s Starlink internet system to support their war against Russia.