Elon Musk gave what appeared to be Nazi salutes at a rally held at Capitol One Arena on Monday after the inauguration of Donald Trump in Washington , D.C. And whatever Musk ’s intention with the salutes , Americans on social medium are extremely uncomfortable as they debate what it could mean for thefuture of the rural area .
“ This one really matter . And I just want to say give thanks you for making it happen , ” Musk said about Trump ’s re - election to a crowd of supporters .
The billionaire placed his right-hand helping hand to his chest before forcefully extending his branch up with his fingersfully extended . Musk then turned around and did the salute again to the crowd behind him . After the salutes , Musk tell the crowd , “ My heart goes out to you . It is thanks to you that the futurity of civilization is assured . ”
Elon Musk appears to give one of two Nazi salutes on Jan. 20, 2025.© Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
umpic.twitter.com/ISwJiM4EsH
— Aaron Rupar ( @atrupar)January 20 , 2025
News camera captured the salute from a duet ofangles , including one further to Musk ’s right side , which was broadcast online byReuters . The salute was remarkably standardised to those used by the Nazis in the thirties and 40s .
Mainstream intelligence outlets seemed hesitant to discover the military greeting as something that ’s clearly associated with Nazism . AsNBC Newsput it , “ Musk then forcefully touched his spirit , before raising his hand and saluting supporters . ”
The New York Timesliveblogfailed to mention Musk ’s salute at all , instead remark that he , “ address briefly at the rally at the Capital One Arena and vowed to take DOGE , his cost - cutting effort , ‘ to Mars . ' ”
The Getty Images photo shows a caption on its websitethat read , “ Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena , in Washington , DC , on January 20 , 2025 . ”
The chemical reaction online seemed to be one of complete blow with simple tweets reading “ what ? ” being extremely common . Others sardonically referred to Musk ’s military greeting as “ subtle . ”
And the Trump presidency start with the richest person in the earthly concern give a Nazi salute.pic.twitter.com/iGZtTB2UZB
— Mr. Beat ( @beatmastermatt)January 20 , 2025
Some people refer to the motion as a “ roman salute , ” which does indeed forego the Nazi era . But ever since the 1940s , the motion has become full associated with the Nazis , who built a fascistic tyranny that killed 6 million Jews during the Holocaust .
Philip Bump of the Washington Post noted onBlueskythat anyone trying to defend Musk ’s salutes as being “ Romanist salutes ” and not necessarily associated with the Nazis were not fence in dependable faith .
“ It was a Roman salute ” is an update reading of “ actually , the Buddhists also used swastikas . ” If you are using it post-1945 , you know very well that the association has changed .
— Philip Bump ( @pbump.com)January 20 , 2025 at 12:56 postmortem examination
Musk himself shared the entire video of hisshort speechon X , even as other users focused exclusively on the Nazi salutes .
pic.twitter.com/hH6i7xYy60
— Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)January 20 , 2025
Obviously people across social culture medium were raise up by what they see as the Trump establishment ’s embrace of fascism . But now that Musk has made a salute associated with the most evil regime of the twentieth one C , vulnerable multitude will be even more implicated about how bad thing are locomote to get in the days , weeks , and months ahead .
Extremists online celebrated Musk ’s salutes , clearly see them to be Nazi gesture .
this is projecting 2025 by the way . the adaptation libs were freak out out about was a faux temperate version that we gaslighted them into believe as a joke.https://t.co/OmmfIozKts
— Anime Kaiser Willy II ( @praesto04)January 20 , 2025
Even some extremist still look up to it as a “ papistical salute ” while tie it to other neo - national socialist moments .
It ’s been a long road from@RichardBSpencer ’s Heil Trump speech in 2016 to@elonmusk ’s manner of speaking on@realDonaldTrump ’s Inauguration Day in 2025
But after eight long year , the Roman salute is officially back in powerpic.twitter.com/7kMducfgTw
— Augustus Invictus ( @EmperorInvictus)January 20 , 2025
But a fistful of Musk fan insisted that the billionaire was n’t actually make Nazi salutes , with Ian Miles Cheong , a far - right influencer , write that reporter Aaron Rupar had somehow edited the clip in a misleading mode . It ’s not whole clear what Cheong seems to intend , since everyone can see the salutes for themselves .
Left wing propagandist Aaron Rupar disingenuously clipped Elon Musk to make it seem as if he was giving the Roman salute in his solemnisation of America . Here is the part he lead out.pic.twitter.com/egdtyD4ewM
— Ian Miles Cheong ( @stillgray)January 20 , 2025
Gizmodo attempted to reach out for comment at Musk ’s companies Tesla and X but did n’t immediately get a response . We ’ll update this post if we hear back .
Donald TrumpElon MuskNazi salutesNazisneo - nazisTESLA
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