 "Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20. The billionaire has been receiving flak for the gesture that many have compared with the Nazi salute.")
It’s Day 1 of Donald Trump’s presidency. And his “First Buddy” Elon Musk is grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons — a hand gesture to be precise.
Trump and Musk are close and on the President’s Inauguration Day, the SpaceX and X owner was by his side. However, his presence at the inaugural parade has ruffled feathers.
Musk was seen giving back-to-back “fascist” salutes during the inaugural celebrations. “I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk, one of Trump’s big donors and adviser, told the crowd at the Capital One Arena in Washington, where the parade was shifted because of dangerously cold temperatures in the city.
He then thumped his right hand on the chest, before extending his arm up diagonally, fingers together and palm facing down.
Did Elon Musk give the “Nazi” salute?
Musk did this not once but twice. As Trump’s MAGA supporters cheered, the world’s richest man repeated the gesture. This time his arm and hand were slightly lower.
Striking himself on the chest, Musk said, “My heart goes out to you… It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is assured. Thanks to you. We’re gonna have safe cities, finally safe cities. Secure borders, sensible spending. Basic stuff. And we’re gonna take ‘Doge’ to Mars.” He was referring to the “department of government efficiency”, a task force set up by Trump to cut federal costs.
Known for dramatics, Musk also asked the supporters to imagine US astronauts planting a flag on another planet and shouted, “Bam, bam”.
The head of Doge was speaking at Capital One Arena before Trump took to the stage.
While he might be receiving hate, he wrote on X, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
How have experts reacted to Musk’s gesture?
Musk’s controversial gesture has created quite a stir on social media, leaving many divided.
Journalist Ben Samuels wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “Elon Musk, speaking at a Trump celebration rally at Washington’s Capital One Arena, appeared to conclude his remarks with a ‘Roman salute’, fascist salute most commonly associated with Nazi Germany where the salute was performed along with the remark ‘Heil Hitler.’”
Gaurdian quoted Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University, as writing on the social media platform Bluesky, “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.”
Claire Aubin, a historian who specialises in Nazism within the United States, agreed Musk’s gesture was a “sieg heil,” or Nazi salute. “My professional opinion is that you’re all right, you should believe your eyes,” Aubin posted on X.
However, not everyone agrees.
British journalist and commentator Owen Jones said in a post on X, “This honestly could not look more like a Nazi salute.”
Even the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a New York-based non-profit that combats antisemitism, said that Musk had made an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute”.
“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath,” the ADL said in an X post. “This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”
This did not go down well with Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She slammed the ADL’s reaction, writing on X, “Just to be clear, you are defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity.”
What’s the history of the ‘Nazi salute’?
The ADL defines the Nazi salute as “raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down”.
The ‘Heil Hitler’ salute has been infamous over the years. In Nazi Germany, raising the arm to salute the dictator was considered a sign of subversion and respect and those who did not conform to it paid consequences.
The Nazis came to power in January 1933 and Hitler ordered that be used in public greetings and salutations along with the words “Heil Hitler”, which meant “Hail Hitler”.
“In Hitler’s mind, the parallel between the salute proffered him and the salute demanded by the great conquering Caesar was clear, direct, and incontrovertible,” wrote Micah D Halpern in a review of the book “The Hilter Salute: On the Meaning of the Gesture”. “In Hitler’s Germany, the notion of the salute was a galvanising social element. It was used in massive rallies where the master of ceremonies would shout ‘Sieg’ (meaning ‘Victory’) and the tens of thousands in attendance would respond with ‘Heil’.”
But does it have a connection with the Roman Empire? The salute is also referred to as the “Roman Salute” but Forward, an independent non-profit, quotes from Martin M Winkler’s “The Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology” as saying that it has no links with ancient Rome.
According to Wrinker, the term Roman salute is a misnomer. “Not a single Roman work of art — sculpture, coinage, or painting — displays a salute of the kind that is found in Fascism, Nazism, and related ideologies,” Winkler writes in Forward. “It is also unknown to Roman literature and is never mentioned by ancient historians of either republican or imperial Rome.”
It was in the 19th Century that the salute was used in plays and dramas set in the Roman Empire. It was seen for the first time in French painter Jacques-Louis David’s painting “Oath of the Horatii” created in 1784.
While Hitler made the salute his own, it was used by fascists in Italy. The Italian Fascist party used it before and they adopted it from earlier Italian nationalist and proto-fascist Gabriele d’Annunzio. A World War I hero, he used the salute as he marched with 2,600 volunteers into the city of Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia) to claim it for Italy. It was later co-opted by Italian dictator Mussolini, according to History Answers.
On September 18, 1927, The New York Times reported, “The Roman salute, as given in Italy, must be made with ‘a short, snappy motion’. Those who are unwilling to use the Roman salute are to be reminded that not only snow and rain but also sound thrashings can fall from above upon the forgetful ones.”
How the salute has re-emerged
Now centuries later, the Nazi salute, which is banned in several countries, has been used by right-wing extremists.
While Musk’s gesture on Monday sparked a debate, in 2022, at a Trump rally when music resembling a QAnon song was played and crowds raised fingers, social media once again compared them to Nazis.
In November 2016, a video from Washington showed several far-right activists celebrating Trump’s victory with what appeared to be Nazi salutes, according to the BBC.
In recent days, Musk, now part of Trump’s inner circle, has been endorsing the far-right. Last month, he hosted a live chat with Germany’s far-right candidate Alice Weidel on his X, promoting her AfD party .
His microblogging platform does little to censor pro-Nazi content. In April 2024, NBC reported at least 150 paid “Premium” or verified X accounts amplifying Nazi propaganda. He had also reinstated the accounts of prominent neo-Nazis Andrew Anglin and Nick Fuentes.
In October last year, German magazine Der Spiegel equated Musk to Adolf Hitler, calling him a public enemy to which he responded by saying, “Well, I did Nazi that coming! Those fools will Goebbels anything down… I bet their pronouns are He/Himmler!”
With inputs from agencies