Right-Wing Extremists Are Abuzz Over Musk's Straight-Arm Salute

[Uncle Joe]

“Incredible things are happening already lmao,” wrote Gab founder and Hitlerbot innovator Andrew Torba

Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

(snip)

Regardless of whether the South Africa-born Musk intended the salute as a “Sieg Heil” salute favored by the followers of Adolf Hitler in World War II, as some online commentators have suggested, it was eagerly received that way by extremists online.

(snip)

The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted to a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, “Hail Trump!”

(snip)

Alternative explanations for the gesture are plausible. Musk is socially awkward, and he may have been stiffly trying to throw love to the crowd for helping put Trump back in office. “My heart goes out to you,” he said after he did the gesture a second time.

However, Musk has allied himself with far-right movements in Europe, including the extremist German party AfD. After purchasing Twitter, which he renamed X, he welcomed long-banned white nationalists back to the platform in the name of free speech. And his X account is sometimes hard to distinguish from far-right extremists. In late 2023 he went on a so-called “apology tour” to Israel after responding to a post about an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X with the words “the actual truth.” He often posts Pepe frogs, and other images and memes associated with the alt-right, including recently temporarily adopting the handle “Kekius Maximus.”

[2naSalit]

1. Are you kidding me?

That was absolutely his intent while he knew he was standing behind the presidential seal.

Buckle up kids, this is going to really suck. Especially if you're not one of the white ones.

[Deuxcents]

2. There is no excuse for the inexcusably behavior .

[sop]

3. Just a couple of weeks ago corporate media was all abuzz talking about Musk as the "co-president," they were

writing hundreds of stories about Elon's thuggish threats to primary all congressmen who didn't follow his orders on pending legislation, and gleefully predicting his influence over Trump for the next four years. It will be interesting to see how corporate media will now respond to Musk's open display of Nazism. This should be interesting

[Uncle Joe]

4. He's going to get something for his 250+ million

I'm beginning to think that behind closed doors, he has the most power, the modern day version of the Golden Rule and all that, "he who has the most gold rules."

It will be interesting to watch what happens to Steve Bannon, I've read that he didn't make the inauguration.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Elon Musk's salute goes viral

Elon is a Nazi and a racist. Remember Elon is from the South Africa and supports Nazis in the current German elections. Noone should be surprised by the salute

Link to tweet

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/20/donald-trump-inauguration-day-news-updates-analysis/elon-mars-salute-00199464

Elon Musk’s use of hand gestures that critics are comparing to a fascist salute is quickly taking on a life of its own on social media.

The tech billionaire offered a vigorous, straight-armed salute Monday while on the stage at Capitol One Arena as he told the crowd “My heart goes out to you.”

Critics on social media immediately compared the gesture to a “Sieg Heil,” the victory salute used to excite crowds in Nazi Germany.

“I never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal,” Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler wrote on X. “This abhorrent gesture has no place in our society and belongs in the darkest chapters of human history.’’

Republicans Against Trump, which has nearly 800,000 followers on Musk’s platform X, posted a clip of the gesture, writing “Wait, did Musk just do a Nazi salute?”

A representative for Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk has been reposting content on X to his nearly 215 million followers, including clips of his remarks, but has not responded to the controversy.

Remember Elon is currently supporting a Nazi affiliated party in the German elections

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Elon Musk wrote, referencing the far-right anti-immigrant and anti-Islam party in Europe’s largest country.
https://bsky.app/profile/wordswithsteph.bsky.social/post/3ldsnsnpptk23

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/elon-musk-germany-far-right-party-afd-rcna185065

In fact, as NBC News reported, the world’s wealthiest individual apparently has some specific opinions about what voters in Europe’s largest country should do next.

Elon Musk waded into Germany’s election Friday, expressing his support for a far-right anti-immigrant and anti-Islam party that’s being monitored by the country’s domestic intelligence agency. ‘Only the AfD can save Germany,’ the tech billionaire wrote on X, referring to the Alternative for Germany party.

......The NBC News report, meanwhile, added:

The party is monitored by the country’s domestic intelligence agency for suspected extremism. Party leader Björne Höcke has twice been found guilty by a German court of purposefully employing Nazi rhetoric. He has appealed the rulings. And in May the party’s top candidate, Maximilian Krah, was forced to withdraw from campaigning after he told an Italian newspaper that the SS, the Nazis’ main paramilitary force, were ‘not all criminals.’

It’s against this backdrop that Musk publicly declared that he sees the AfD as Germany’s “only” saviors.

The fact that the conspiratorial billionaire has expressed support for such a radical foreign party would, of course, be far less interesting in the United States were it not for the fact that Musk has become a highly relevant figure in American politics, effectively purchasing electoral influence, attaching himself to an incoming president, sitting in on meetings with foreign leaders, huddling with members of Congress, helping kill legislation for reasons that don’t make sense, weighing in on Cabinet choices and heading up a powerless advisory panel that the political world is pretending has real authority.

This is the guy who’s also, evidently, hoping to see Europe’s largest country in far-right hands

[Oneironaut]

6. Nazis

They’re Nazis, in the sense of ascribing to the belief system pushed by Hitler and Nazi Germany.

They are right wing extremists in the general sense, but, are, more specifically, Nazis.