During Trump’s inauguration ceremony yesterday, Elon Musk drew attention when he ended a speech with a gesture in which he clutched his chest and raised his arm upwards at an angle twice.
Outraged left-liberal media and opinion makers quickly accused Musk of making a “Nazi” salute – but he himself seems to be taking the storm of criticism in stride.
After a short speech in which Musk emphasized the importance of Trump’s election victory, he made a somewhat unusual gesture in which he first slapped his right hand across his chest and then extended it diagonally with an open hand. The gesture was repeated twice during his appearance.
Accusations quickly began to fly that the world’s richest man had made a “Hitler salute” – and several TV channels covering the ceremony chose to pause their regular coverage and instead focus on discussing the purpose of the arm gesture and whether it should be seen as “Nazi”, “fascist” or something else entirely.
“US billionaire Elon Musk appeared to make a Heil Hitler salute at the Washington DC Trump parade”, wrote the Jerusalem Post, for example, and the UK’s The Guardian claimed that “Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes“.
Within hours of Donald Trump taking the oath of office, billionaire Elon Musk gave the Nazi salute during his speech at an inauguration rally.
It was not an accident or a mistake, he did it twice.
Way to go America ♂️ pic.twitter.com/5NjaU5xF1w
— Gabe Sanchez (@iamgabesanchez) January 20, 2025
“So tiresome”
However, the multi-billionaire himself does not seem to be particularly bothered by all the fuss, writing on X that his opponents “need better dirty tricks”.
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired”, he notes.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the tech mogul has also received support from the Jewish lobbying organization ADL, which tracks and monitors alleged anti-Semitic activity around the world.
“It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge”, it said in a statement.
Frankly, they need better dirty tricks.
The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired https://t.co/9fIqS5mWA0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2025