Billionaire Elon Musk performed what looked to be multiple Nazi salutes during a rally for U.S. President Trump on Monday following Trump’s inauguration.
Footage of the salute circulated rapidly online, sparking commentary from people on all sides of the political spectrum both inside the U.S. and in other countries, including Canada.
Some quickly began debating Musk’s intentions behind the salute, and others moved to defend it, claiming it wasn’t a salute or it was a “Roman salute” — hardly a defence, given the Roman salute is also known as the Fascist salute and has widely been considered a symbol of fascism following its use by the Nazis when they formed a fascist dictatorship and killed 6 million Jews during the Holocaust in the 1940s.
Musk responded to outcry about the salute in a Twitter/X post, calling it a “dirty trick.”
Frankly, they need better dirty tricks.
The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired 😴 https://t.co/9fIqS5mWA0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2025
Whatever Musk’s intentions, far-right extremists celebrated the salutes and clearly interpreted them as Nazi gestures. Right-wing influencers and Musk supporters also accused people of editing the clip in a misleading way, which is absurd when anyone can watch the clip and see the salutes themselves.
FYI, all the Neo Nazi Telegram channels I monitor are absolutely THRILLED about this
— Rachel Gilmore (@rachelgilmore.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Perhaps more concerning is the media’s reluctance to acknowledge the salute for what it looks like. Gizmodo highlighted several examples of this, including NBC News writing that “Musk then forcefully touched his heart, before raising his hand and saluting supporters,” while others like the New York Times simply didn’t mention the salute.
All this is to say, the salute and its implications are deeply disturbing for America and the world, especially given Musk’s close ties with Trump. Moreover, Musk has a history of racist comments, and Twitter/X has seen an explosion of hate speech following Musk’s acquisition of the platform.
Update Jan. 21 at 1:54pm ET: Added Musk’s Twitter/X post responding to outcry over the salute.
Header image credit: Screenshot, PBS News
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