Bloomberg: “He’s had an uneasy relationship from the get-go with Trump, starting with a fateful 2019 phone call. The US leader, then in his first term, urged Zelenskiy to investigate claims against rival Joe Biden in return for military aid. Trump never warmed to him.”

“Now he’s making it obvious he wants Zelenskiy out. A person close to Zelenskiy said US officials were pressing in private that it was time to hold elections. Those intimations are no longer subtle as Trump makes digs at the president’s popularity.”

Said Trump: “He’s going to have to do what he has to do. But, you know, his poll numbers aren’t particularly great, to put it mildly.”

“The man likely to become Germany’s next leader warned that Elon Musk would face consequences for boosting the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, through his X social-media platform,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said frontrunner Friedrich Merz: “What happened in this election campaign cannot go unchallenged.”

He added: “It can be a political response. It can be a legal response. I want to analyze this calmly after this election campaign.”

“Greenland on Tuesday passed a law banning foreign contributions to political parties, an assertion of self-governance amid concern over President Donald Trump’s calls for the United States to acquire the island,” the Washington Post reports.

“The move comes ahead of a general election, which Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede on Tuesday proposed would take place March 11.”

Anne Applebaum: “He and other tech oligarchs are making it impossible to conduct free and fair elections anywhere.”

“It’s really insane that he can destabilize the political situations in countries… I mean, this is insane shit.”

— Bill Gates, quoted by the Daily Beast, on Elon Musk supporting right wing parties in Germany and the U.K.

Elon Musk made a virtual appearance at a rally for the far-right Alternative for Germany party on Saturday, reiterating his support ahead of the country’s Feb. 23 snap election and telling the crowd that it’s time to “move on” from “past guilt,” Politico reports.

The first YouGov/Times voting intention survey since the 2024 general election shows a close contest for the top spot between Labour (26%) and Reform UK (25%).

The Conservatives are in a close third place (22%), with the Lib Dems much further back on 14% and the Greens taking 8% of the vote.

“Elon Musk urged Germans to vote for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an upcoming election in a conversation with its leader on his social media platform X that highlighted the U.S. billionaire’s growing ambition to sway European politics,” USA Today reports.

Bloomberg: “The discussion, which ranged from Hitler and Stalin to aliens and a human settlement on Mars, lasted for just over an hour. Musk has more than 211 million followers on X and 105,000 people were listening in before the event kicked off.”

“The holiday period is over and Canadian politics is gripped by a single question: when will the country hear from Justin Trudeau?,” Bloomberg reports.

“The prime minister has largely disappeared from public view since Dec. 16, when Chrystia Freeland — his finance minister and once his most powerful ally in cabinet — resigned in devastating fashion, with a public letter that criticized him.”

“Elon Musk called for fresh UK elections in the latest sign of how Donald Trump’s incoming U.S. administration could be a thorn in the side of Keir Starmer’s government,” Bloomberg reports.

“With a majority of his caucus now calling on him to resign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on a ski holiday, reflecting on whether to stay or go,” Politico reports.

“Trudeau is way down in the polls and facing challenges from within his party about whether he’s the right leader to unite Canadians. His decision comes as Canada braces for a tariff war when Donald Trump returns to the White House in three weeks.”

Britain’s ruling Labour Party would lose nearly 200 seats if elections were held today as the populist Reform UK Party surges, according to a Sunday Times poll.

“Elon Musk reiterated his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, in an opinion piece published by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper less than two months before Germans go to the polls,” Bloomberg reports.

Wrote Musk: “The AfD, even though it is described as far-right, represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment. It addresses the problems of the day — without the political correctness that often obscures the truth.”

“Elon Musk has already helped propel Donald Trump into the White House. Now he might have his sights on a political shake-up at another iconic address: 10 Downing Street,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“There is growing alarm among Britain’s political establishment that Musk, who has been sharply critical of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, may radically alter the U.K.’s electoral landscape by donating millions of dollars to Reform UK, a populist upstart party. Britain’s government says it wants to change the law to prevent foreigners from making outsize political donations.”

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will unveil a new cabinet on Friday, but his own political future is in serious doubt after a key opposition leader said he’ll vote to bring the prime minister’s government down,” Bloomberg reports.

“Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, said in a statement that his party ‘will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons.’ If all opposition parties vote against Trudeau’s government, it will have to resign, triggering an election.”

“U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, set to join President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as an outside adviser, waded into Germany’s election campaign on Friday, calling the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) the country’s savior,” Reuters reports.

“The AfD is running second in opinion polls and might be able to thwart either a center-right or center-left majority, but Germany’s mainstream, more centrist parties have vowed to shun support from the AfD at national level.”