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 media are extremely uncomfortable as they debate what it could mean for the future of the country.
“This one really mattered. And I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk said about Trump’s re-election to a crowd of supporters.
The billionaire placed his right hand to his chest before forcefully extending his arm upward with his fingers fully extended. Musk then turned around and did the salute again to the crowd behind him. After the salutes, Musk told the crowd, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 20, 2025
News cameras captured the salute from a couple of angles, including one further to Musk’s right side, which was broadcast online by Reuters. The salute was unmistakably similar to those used by the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s.
Mainstream news outlets seemed hesitant to describe the salute as something that’s clearly associated with Nazism. As NBC News put it, “Musk then forcefully touched his heart, before raising his hand and saluting supporters.”
The New York Times liveblog failed to mention Musk’s salute at all, instead noting that he, “spoke 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 website that reads, “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 reaction online seemed to be one of complete shock with simple tweets reading “what?” being extremely common. Others sarcastically referred to Musk’s salutes as “subtle.”
And the Trump presidency begins with the richest person in the world giving a Nazi salute. pic.twitter.com/iGZtTB2UZB
— Mr. Beat (@beatmastermatt) January 20, 2025
Some people referred to the gesture as a “roman salute,” which does indeed predate the Nazi era. But ever since the 1940s, the gesture has become fully associated with the Nazis, who built a fascist dictatorship that killed 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post noted on Bluesky that anyone trying to defend Musk’s salutes as being “roman salutes” and not necessarily associated with the Nazis were not arguing in good faith.
“It was a Roman salute” is an updated version 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 PM
Musk himself shared the entire video of his short speech on X, even as other users focused exclusively on the Nazi salutes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2025
Obviously people across social media were disturbed by what they see as the Trump administration’s embrace of fascism. But now that Musk has made a salute associated with the most evil regime of the 20th century, vulnerable people will be even more concerned about how bad things are going to get in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
Extremists online celebrated Musk’s salutes, clearly understanding them to be Nazi gestures.
this is projecting 2025 by the way. the version libs were freaking out about was a fake moderate version that we gaslighted them into believing as a joke. https://t.co/OmmfIozKts
— Anime Kaiser Willy II (@praesto04) January 20, 2025
Even some extremists still referred to it as a “roman salute” while tying it to other neo-Nazi moments.
It’s been a long road from @RichardBSpencer‘s Heil Trump speech in 2016 to @elonmusk‘s speech on @realDonaldTrump‘s Inauguration Day in 2025
But after eight long years, the Roman salute is officially back in power pic.twitter.com/7kMducfgTw
— Augustus Invictus (@EmperorInvictus) January 20, 2025
But a handful of Musk fans insisted that the billionaire wasn’t actually making Nazi salutes, with Ian Miles Cheong, a far-right influencer, writing that reporter Aaron Rupar had somehow edited the clip in a misleading way. It’s not entirely clear what Cheong seems to mean, 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 celebration of America. Here is the part he left 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 didn’t immediately get a response. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
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