Elon Musk gave what appeared to be a Nazi salute at a rally at Capitol One Arena on Monday after Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC. Whatever Musk’s intention with the greeting, Americans on social media are feeling very uncomfortable as they discuss what it could mean for the country’s future.
“This is really important. I just want to say thank you for making this happen,” Musk said of Trump’s reelection in front of a crowd of supporters.
The billionaire placed his right hand on his chest before forcefully extending his arm upwards with his fingers Fully extended. Then Musk turned and saluted again to the crowd behind him. After greeting, Musk told the crowd: “My heart goes out to you. Thanks to you, the future of civilization is secure.”
-Aaron Robar (@atropar) January 20, 2025
News cameras captured greetings from a couple Anglesincluding another one to Musk’s right side, which was streamed online by Reuters. The salute was unmistakeably similar to those used by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s.
Mainstream media seemed reluctant to describe the salute as something clearly associated with Nazism. like NBC News As he put it: “Then Musk touched his heart strongly, before he raised his hand and greeted the Ansar.”
The New York Times live blog failed to mention Musk’s greeting at all, instead noting that he “spoke briefly at the rally at Capital One Arena and pledged to take DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts to Mars.”
A Getty Images photo shows a comment on her website who readsTesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025.
The online reaction appears to have been one of complete shock, with simple tweets reading “what,” becoming extremely popular. Others sarcastically referred to Musk’s compliments as “precise“.
Trump’s presidency begins with the world’s richest person performing the Nazi salute. pic.twitter.com/iGZtTB2UZB
– Mr. Beat (@beatmastermatt) January 20, 2025
Some people referred to this gesture as a “Romanian salute,” which actually predated the Nazi era. But since the 1940s, the gesture has become entirely associated with the Nazis, who built a fascist dictatorship that killed 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post noted: Bluesky Anyone trying to defend Musk’s salute as a “Roman salute” and not necessarily associated with the Nazis was not arguing in good faith.
“It was a Roman greeting” is an updated version of “Actually, Buddhists also used swastikas.” If you used it after 1945, you know very well that the association has changed.
— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) January 20, 2025 at 12:56 pm
Musk himself shared his entire video Short speech on X, even as other users focused exclusively on the Nazi salute.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2025
People across social media are clearly upset by what they see as the Trump administration’s embrace of fascism. But now that Musk has paid the salute associated with the most evil regime of the 20th century, vulnerable people will be even more concerned about how bad things will get in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Online extremists celebrated Musk’s salute, clearly aware that it was a Nazi gesture.
This is a 2025 prediction by the way. The version the libs were freaking out about was a fake moderation we played on them as a joke. https://t.co/OmmfIozKts
– Kaiser Willy II anime (@praesto04) January 20, 2025
Some extremists even still refer to it as a “Roman salute” while linking it to other neo-Nazi moments.
It’s been a long way from @Richard B. SpencerHill speech trump in 2016 to @elonmuskspeech on @RealDonaldTrumpOpening day in 2025
But after eight long years, the Roman salute has officially returned to power pic.twitter.com/7kMducfgTw
– Augustus Invictus (@EmperorInvictus) January 20, 2025
But a handful of Musk’s fans insisted that the billionaire was not in fact giving the Nazi salute, with Ian Miles Cheung, a far-right influencer, writing that reporter Aaron Robar had somehow edited the clip in a misleading manner. It’s not entirely clear what Cheung means, as everyone can see the greeting for themselves.
Left-wing preacher Aaron Robar clipped a deceptive clip of Elon Musk to make it look like he was giving the Roman salute at his celebration of America. Here’s the part he left out.
pic.twitter.com/egdtyD4ewM– Ian Miles Cheung (@Stillgray) January 20, 2025
Gizmodo attempted to reach out to Musk’s Tesla and X companies for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. We will update this post if we hear back.
https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2025/01/elon-musk-nazi-salute.jpg
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