Elon Musk thanked by German far-right leader after landmark election win praised by Russia | First Thing

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Belam, M. (2026, September 7). Elon Musk thanked by German far-right leader after landmark election win praised by Russia | First Thing. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/07/first-thing-elon-musk-german-far-right-afd-election-win-russia

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-09-07 · by Martin Belam

Quick Summary

Ulrich Siegmund, the lead candidate of Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, has thanked Elon Musk for his support after the party won a state election in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD secured 39 lawmakers in an 83-member legislature, falling just three seats short of a majority to form a government alone. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised the "historic win" for the pro-Kremlin AfD on social media, while former US defense secretary Leon Panetta warned that Donald Trump's war with Iran may drag on for another six months without resolution.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-07, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In an upcoming Sunday election, Germany's far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AFD), is poised to win control of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, a position it hasn't held since World War II. AFD’s lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, has gained significant traction by addressing concerns like immigration and Russia normalization through social media platforms such as TikTok. Polls suggest AFD could secure around 44% of the vote, more than double its previous performance in 2016. Should AFD achieve an outright victory, it would control state resources, aiming to implement policies including separate classrooms for refugees and a reduced focus on Germany's Nazi past. This historic shift raises concerns about emboldening far-right influence across Germany, with implications for national politics beyond the regional level.

Written for “German Far Right Election Gains” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 63 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 German Far Right Election Gains
Politics · 64 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Guardian · 0.93 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 3 of 24 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the same specific incident: the historic state election victory of the far-right AfD party in Germany, where their candidate Ulrich Siegmund thanked Elon Musk for his support.”
September 8, 2026 same event · 100%
Letters from an American · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 4 of 48
“Both articles describe the same far-right party's election win in Saxony-Anhalt and Elon Musk's congratulatory post, with identical language about his message to AfD co-founder Alice Weidel.”
Semafor
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 20% hedged 1 of 5 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the AfD winning the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, with similar details about Ulrich Siegmund thanking Elon Musk for his support”
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left further left than this 🔴 16% hedged 7 of 44 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles report on the election win of the AfD party in Saxony-Anhalt, a specific regional parliament election that occurred at a specific time and place.”
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Centre further left than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the AfD's historic first win in a state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.”
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left further left than this 🔴 23% hedged 7 of 31 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the same election result and outcome in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, where the AfD party won.”
CBS News
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this 🔴 13% hedged 8 of 63 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on the same day and with similar details.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left further left than this 🔴 30% hedged 3 of 10 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles report on the outcome of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD won, and mention the AfD's co-leader Alice Weidel, indicating they are describing the same specific event.”
Times of India
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 35% hedged 9 of 26 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on the same state election in Germany, specifically the victory of the AfD party led by Ulrich Siegmund in Saxony-Anhalt.”
Fox News
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 13% hedged 7 of 52 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles report on the same historic state election win of the AfD party in Saxony-Anhalt, and mention Elon Musk's support for the party as a significant factor.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
51
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
10%
5 of 51 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
69/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
64
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-07 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 1591 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Martin Belam
20 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Martin Belam
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 20 articles by Martin Belam →

Topics

AfD German Germany Iran Washington

Subjects

AfD ORG · 6× Iran GPE · 4× Germany GPE · 3× German NORP · 2× Lindsay Clancy PERSON · 2× Trump PERSON · 2× Washington GPE · 2× Elon Musk PERSON · 1× Ulrich Siegmund PERSON · 1× the Alternative für Deutschland’s ORG · 1×

Narrative

Climate check: The heat crisis has mayors of major cities all facing the same question Writing for the Guardian, the mayors of Paris, Milan and Phoenix explain how they are working jointly to find solutions that protect vulnerable residents, communicate risk, and redesign neighborhoods in preparation for hotter summers.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-07
🔮 - Will the AfD be able to form a state government?

Claims (51 extracted, 5 hedged)

A far-right leader who has won an important state election in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for his support, as voices in Europe warn the result is a serious moment for the continent. asserted
result → win → continent
No far-right party has led or formed a government in Germany since the defeat of nazism at the end of the second world war. asserted
party → lead → war
Ulrich Siegmund, the Alternative für Deutschland’s lead candidate, thanked Musk on X after the tech billionaire said “Well done!” in German to the AfD co-founder Alice Weidel. asserted
billionaire → thank → Weidel
The populist, far-right, anti-immigration party won the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. asserted
party → win → Anhalt
During its campaign, the AfD sought to capitalise on a mood of nostalgia for the communist East Germany and discontent among east Germans. asserted
AfD → seek → Germans
The party has promised a remigration and deportation offensive, to ban rainbow flags in schools and halt the building of new windfarms. asserted
party → promise → windfarms
It wants to change the slogan of the state from “Think Modern” to “Think German”, and reintroduce the singing of the country’s national anthem in schools. asserted
It → want → schools
- Will the AfD be able to form a state government? asserted
AfD → form → government
Despite its resounding victory, the party fell just short of a majority. asserted
party → fall → majority
It was seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern alone and overcome the so-called “firewall” of the mainstream parties, which refuse to work with it. asserted
which → seek → it
The final results showed the AfD falling three seats short, with 39 lawmakers in an 83-member legislature. asserted
AfD → show → legislature
Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the election projection without comment on his Truth Social site. asserted
Trump → post → site
The Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev took a screengrab of Trump’s post and praised a “historic win for the pragmatic AfD”. asserted
envoy → take → AfD
The AfD is pro-Kremlin, urging a stop to support for Ukraine and pushing for Ukrainians in Germany to no longer receive refugee status. asserted
Ukrainians → urge → status
Iran war likely to drag on for another six months, former US defense secretary warns asserted
secretary → drag → months
Donald Trump’s war with Iran is likely to drag on for another six months, the former US defense secretary Leon Panetta has said, adding that it risks becoming another “forever war in the Middle East”, with no clear end in sight. asserted
it → drag → sight
“It’s no mystery that the United States and Iran are caught in a terrible stalemate, in which there really are very few options available to bring this war to an end,” said Panetta, who also served as CIA director under Barack Obama. asserted
who → ’ → Obama
“I think the likelihood is this war is going to continue for another six months without being resolved,” he added. asserted
he → think → months
- Who else has been saying Trump’s war may not achieve its aims? uncertain
war → say → aims
The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said on Sunday morning Washington might not be able to reach an agreement with Tehran that would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. uncertain
that → say → weapons
“We are strangling their economy to try to bring either a change in policy from the existing regime or a new regime,” he said. asserted
he → strangle → regime
Lindsay Clancy murder trial ends in dramatic deadlock Lindsay Clancy, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the judge and the millions watching on were back where they started after her five-week trial over the murder of her three children ended in a mistrial. asserted
trial → end → mistrial
The case has ceased for the moment, but the legal wrangling is not over and a second trial could now be on the horizon, prolonging and repeating an agonizing spectacle that has gripped the US and the world. uncertain
that → cease → US
- What will Clancy’s defense team most likely do? asserted
team → do → What
They will almost certainly push to have the charges against their client dropped, aggressively lobby against another trial and make a case to the district attorney’s office along the lines of: “Why are you doing this to this poor woman? asserted
you → push → woman
She’s still clearly obviously suffering. asserted
She → suffer → ?
She’s been punished with her paralysis and, worse than that, the loss of her three children. asserted
She → punish → children
Flock surveillance cameras spur rare bipartisan backlash Growing factions from both sides of the political aisle in the US are pushing back against surveillance cameras made by a single company, a rare response in a sharply divided country with a president pushing an unwaveringly pro-tech agenda. asserted
factions → spur → agenda
There are about 120,000 Flock cameras across the US, which conduct roughly 2bn scans a month. asserted
which → be → scans
The company is staring down controversy after reports of abuses of its cameras by police officers in multiple states, who have used them to stalk former lovers and track people seeking abortions. asserted
who → star → abortions
The network the cameras feed into is also frequently used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. asserted
cameras → feed → Enforcement
In other news … - Hawaii has declared a state of emergency as powerful Hurricane Lowell makes its way toward the islands. asserted
Lowell → declare → islands
- The Trump administration renewed its appeal to the US supreme court to allow restrictions on mail-in voting, after a federal judge had blocked new limits. - More voters are identifying as Democrats and shying away from calling themselves Republicans, according to the latest quarterly data. uncertain
voters → renew → data
- Falling ceiling debris at the Kennedy Center has renewed debate over much-needed renovations, with preservationists worried the board may seize on the incident to close the institution. - The UK government has condemned balaclava-clad far-right activists who blocked roads in the south of England after a boat carrying asylum seekers arrived in Portsmouth. Stat of the day: uncertain
boat → fall → day
At least five dead after Amazon cargo plane crashes at Miami airport asserted
plane → crash → airport
An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami international airport in Florida after the flight overshot the runway, striking several vehicles and resulting in at least five deaths. asserted
flight → crash → deaths
Three people were left in critical condition and two more were hospitalized as operations at the airport were brought to a halt. asserted
operations → leave → halt
Even in safe-haven Massachusetts, trans care is at risk, but young people are fighting to protect it asserted
people → fight → it
Organizers with the youth-led group Protect Trans Futures (PTF) have staged an occupation, refusing to leave without a commitment to protect civil rights for trans children. asserted
Organizers → lead → children
Tennessee says child rapists deserve to die – now it prepares to execute one of their victims asserted
it → say → victims
…and 11 more, not listed.
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