Elon Musk shows support for Spain’s far-right party: ‘Vox will win the next election’

Elon Musk is taking a stand in Spanish politics. The richest man in the world, with a fortune valued at $385 billion, on Saturday expressed his support for Spains’ far-right party Vox through a message on his social network X, the former Twitter. “Vox will win the next election,” the tycoon wrote to his 218.6 million followers. He was commenting on a message from another user that included a video in which U.S. President Donald Trump is seen greeting the leader of the Spanish party, Santiago Abascal, at CPAC, an ultraconservative conference held outside Washington DC.

Elon Musk, the main donor to Trump’s presidential campaign last year and a close ally of the president, is also becoming increasingly active in international politics. He has already shown his support for other European far-right parties; he has a very good relationship with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and has campaigned for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Regardless of whether the Tesla and SpaceX boss is liked or disliked, Musk has an enormous capacity to spread and amplify disinformation through his social media platform, as he has done repeatedly in the United States. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer (a preferred target of Musk’s attacks), have openly criticized him for this. Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, also called for rebellion against the “techno-caste” this month with a speech in which he made clear references to Musk’s support for the German hard right.

Reaping the rewards

Vox has been cultivating a relationship with Trumpism for years, and believes that the time has come to reap the rewards. The party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, is convinced that he can ride the same populist wave that has returned Trump to the White House, and that his own party can significantly erode the Spanish mainstream conservatives of the Popular Party (PP). For the moment, the polls in Spain seem to support this view.

After traveling to Washington on January 20 for Donald Trump’s inauguration, which he was ultimately unable to witness in person due to limited attendance, Abascal this week participated, for the second consecutive year, in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the great conclave of Trumpism, which was also attended by other leaders of the European far right.

Donald Trump closed the CPAC conference on Saturday. The U.S. president included in his long list of greetings and thanks “the leader of Spain’s Vox party, Santiago Obiscal [sic]. Thank you, Santiago. Thank you very much.” Abascal stood up from his seat and Trump added: “You’re doing great.” The U.S. president uses the phrase as a frequent tagline, but the leaders and followers of Vox quickly celebrated it like a medal.

Mario Nawfal, an investor and communicator close to Elon Musk, tweeted a video of that moment and wrote the following message: “Abascal’s party has gained momentum, with his leadership hailed as a visionary force steering Spain back to common sense.”

Abascal’s party currently ranks third in voting intention in Spain with 13.3% of the vote, according to the latest poll by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), trailing far behind the PP and the Socialist Party (PSOE). The latest poll by the 40dB Institute for EL PAÍS and Cadena SER give Vox the biggest gains compared to the election result of July 2023, with a rise of 1.8 points to reach 14.2% of the vote. Even so, that is still less than half that of what the PP is expected to secure (32.6%) or the PSOE (28.4%). For Elon Musk’s prediction to come true, a complete turnaround in Spanish politics would be necessary.

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