Donald Trump's victory energized the German far-right. Elon Musk's endorsement has them exultant.

The far-right has projected onto Trump a “fantasy of ethnonational power” they seek to replicate, says Mabel Berezin , director of Cornell University’s Institute for European Studies .

At the core of this transnational love affair is a single racist idea: that dark-skinned immigrants pose an existential threat and must be sent back to their home countries, a political concept known as remigration.

This November , the AfD in the state of Bavaria passed a “resolution for remigration,” calling for the creation of new ways “to more easily revoke German citizenship that has already been granted” and “comprehensive remigration in the millions over the next 10 years ” The party has started using plane imagery in official posters and advertisements.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in mid-December , triggering a snap election on February 23 .

The Christian Democrats , former Chancellor Angela Merkel ’s old party and the current opposition, are expected to come to power.

The more votes the AfD receives, the greater its ability to steer Germany rightward.