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Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute during a rally at the Capitol One Arena on Monday after the inauguration of Donald Trump in Washington, DC. meaning the future of the world.
“This was really important. And I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk said of Trump’s election to a group of supporters.
The billionaire placed his right hand on his chest before extending his hand upwards with his fingers enough. Musk then turned and saluted the group behind him. After the greetings, Musk told the crowd, “My heart goes out to you. I thank you that the future of civilization is certain.”
one pic.twitter.com/ISwJiM4EsH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 20, 2025
News cameras captured greetings from several cornerincluding one to Musk’s right, which was published online by Reuters. The salute was undoubtedly similar to that of the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s.
Mainstream media seemed reluctant to describe the salute as something associated with Nazism. Like NBC News said, “Musk then touched his heart firmly, before raising his hand and greeting his supporters.”
The New York Times liveblog he couldn’t even mention Musk’s greeting, instead he noted that, “he briefly spoke at the Capital One Arena meeting and vowed to take DOGE, his cost-cutting effort, ‘to Mars.’
A photo from Getty Images shows the text on its website that he reads“Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures during a speech during the inauguration ceremony inside Capitol One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.”
The reaction to the internet was seen as a flurry of confusion with simple tweets reading “what?” to be very ordinary. Some mockingly referred to Musk’s greeting as “clever.”
And Trump’s presidency begins with the richest man in the world giving a Nazi salute. pic.twitter.com/iGZtTB2UZB
– Mr. Beat (@beatmastermatt) January 20, 2025
Some people called the practice the “Roman salute,” which existed before the Nazi era. But since the 1940s, the show has been fully aligned with the Nazis, who built a brutal dictatorship that killed 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post reported it Bluesky that anyone trying to defend Musk’s salute as a “Roman salute” and not necessarily associated with the Nazis was not contradicting good faith.
“It was a Roman sulti” is a modified form of “actually, Buddhists also used swastikas.” If you are using it after 1945, you are well aware that the associations have changed.
— Philip Mamba (@pbump.com) January 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Musk himself shared his entire video to speak briefly on X, just like other users just focused on the Nazi salute.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2025
Apparently people on social media were upset by what they saw as the Trump administration’s embrace of fascism. But now that Musk has bid adieu to the worst monopoly of the 20th century, risk-takers will worry more about how things will play out in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
Extremists on the Internet celebrated Musk’s greeting, clearly understanding it as a Nazi gesture.
this is planned for 2025 by the way. the kind of libs were so hard it was the kind of lie we tricked them into believing as a joke. https://t.co/OmmfIozKts
– Anime Kaiser Willy II (@praesto04) January 20, 2025
Even some extremists call it the “Roman salute” as it links to other Nazi eras.
It’s been a long way since @RichardBSpencerHeil Trump’s speech in 2016 until @elonmuskword on @realDonaldTrumpOpening date in 2025
But eight years later, the Roman Empire is back in power pic.twitter.com/7kMducfgTw
– Augustus Invictus (@EmperorInvictus) January 20, 2025
But a few Musk fans insisted that the billionaire was not giving a Nazi salute, while Ian Miles Cheong, a right-wing activist, wrote that journalist Aaron Rupar had made the change in a misleading way. It is not clear what Cheong seems to be referring to, as anyone can see the greeting for themselves.
Leftist broadcaster Aaron Rupar casually cut Elon Musk to make it look like he was giving the Roman salute at his American celebration. Here’s the part he left off.
pic.twitter.com/egdtyD4ewM— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 20, 2025
Gizmodo tried to reach Musk’s Tesla and X companies for comment but did not immediately respond. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
