Tesla CEO Elon Musk is under scrutiny for a salute he made during the inauguration of President Donald Trump. After his speech, Musk brought his right hand to his chest, then extended it outwards at a straight, upward angle. Musk then turned around and repeated the action. This hand motion is commonly known as the Nazi salute, or the Sieg Heil.
Elon Musk has yet to come forward to say he condemns Nazi values, and that the hand gesture was accidental and instead posted on X saying, “the ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” following the inauguration. “Bet you did Nazi that coming,” he wrote in a subsequent post littered with puns related to the Nazi party.
Musk will be joining the White House as the Head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk has pledged over $200 million to the Trump campaign, as well as supporting him on X, formerly known as Twitter.
One common misconception of his gesture was that was performing a “Roman salute.” No recorded history notes the Roman civilization ever making a similar hand gesture, and many sources draw the conclusion of the fabrication of that myth to further associate Nazism with Roman values.
Many of Musk’s supporters deny his gestures to be the Nazi salute, instead saying that it was simply an awkward gesture, pointing to Musk’s autism as the reason for doing so. The Anti-Defamation League refers to it as an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm.”
One X user posted “When autistic people are excited, they might act weird.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also denies that Musk performed a Nazi salute, saying “Elon is a great friend of Israel.”
Regardless of his true intention, many see this as Musk’s ‘mask off’ moment, with positive reactions from many white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and condemnation from others. Musk’s estranged daughter called out his behavior on the social media platform Bluesky, posting, “I’m just gonna say let’s call a spade a f*cking spade. Especially if there were two spades done in succession based on the reaction of the first spade.”
Democratic politicians such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Governor Tim Walz have both stated that they believe his gestures to be a Nazi salute. “Of course he did,” stated Walz during an interview.
Musk in response has since posted about his intent to sue Walz over his statements, responding to an X post calling him to sue with “I think I will.”
