The millionaire addressed the public in Washington with a gesture that is inevitably reminiscent of the Nazi salute
During his first hours in the White House (before he had even settled in), Donald Trump has been signing decrees at an astonishing speed. Pardons, immigration, energy, green agenda, TikTok and diversity. Renominations.
Leaving the WHO. Even decrees to overturn previous Biden decrees. A whole orgy of signatures in his angular handwriting. However, not even this regulatory zeal (otherwise expected to happen) has prevented the new US president from sharing the limelight on his big day with another name that is grabbing the headlines today: Elon Musk.
But Musk is not being mentioned because of his signature. If he has made the headlines the day after Trump’s inauguration it is because yesterday, in the midst of the euphoria of the Trumpian celebration, he twice gave a salute (hand to chest, arm raised, palm outstretched) that is difficult to observe without recalling the Nazi salutes that were popular in the 1930s.
A Nazi salute? If there is one question hovering over Trump’s first day at the helm of the White House, even more than the unknowns that remain about his tariff policy or geostrategic key, it is this: did Musk give two Nazi salutes to the crowd gathered at the Capital One stadium yesterday? There are those who believe that it was an inappropriate gesture, but one made in the euphoria of the moment. Some see it as a provocation. And there are those who think (quite a few people in fact) that the Nazi overtones are undeniable and deliberate.
What exactly did he do? A picture (or video, as the case may be) is often worth a thousand words. And this is no exception. Musk’s gesture was immortalized by the cameras covering his speech to the thousands of people gathered at Capital One in Washington. And just in case anyone had missed it, the billionaire himself took it upon himself to share the full video of his speech on his personal account on X, the social network he owns.
Throughout the speech, which lasted just under four minutes, Musk made several gestures, waved his hands, raised his arms, shouted, and thanked the audience for having returned Trump to the White House. All this was accompanied by applause and cheers. At one point, less than a minute after taking the stage with the presidential seal and a starry banner in the background, Musk brings his right hand to his chest, at heart level, and then raises his arm with his palm facing down. He does this on two occasions.
“Perfect score, 10 out of 10”. Deliberate or not, the result of a conscious decision, euphoria or a desire to provoke, one thing is undeniable: because of its staging and gestures, the salute inevitably recalls the one used by the Nazis, with echoes of the signs of identity used by far-right extremists in Europe and also in parts of North America in the 1930s and 1940s.
El Mundo columnist Pablo Pardo, who has extensive experience in the country, explains in his column that in the US it is common to touch one’s heart to convey solidarity, but it is more usual to then give the thumbs up or show the fist. No raising the arm with the palm extended.
He is not the only one to think so. On The X and Bluesky, the PBS channel and Israeli media such as Haaretz voices were quick to pay attention to the gesture. “If doing the Nazi ‘Sieg Heil’ salute were an Olympic event like gymnastics, Elon Musk would have received a perfect score of 10,” musician and environmental activist Bill Madden quipped on The X. There are those who have chosen to abandon X outright, annoyed by Musk’s attitude. Among them Minister Yolanda Díaz.
Just an anecdote? Musk was not just another guest at Trump’s ‘coronation’. In addition to being the richest man on the planet and an important donor to the Republican leader’s campaign, the businessman will occupy an important positionin the team of the new US president, heading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
If his gesture yesterday in Washington has aroused suspicion and criticism, it is not only because of the power and social, economic and political relevance that Musk has accumulated. It is difficult to look at his salute without thinking of Nazi gestures; but also without remembering the businessman’s history.
Gestures matter… And context matters, which in this case is as important or even more important. Deliberate or not, provocation, a Nazi wink or the result of Musk’s histrionic gesticulation, the truth is that over the last few years the businessman has made a clear shift to the right. From a discourse focused on the ethics of work and effort (Musk became famous for sleeping in the office after buying the former Twitter headquarters) his public positioning has taken on increasingly clear political overtones, with a conservative ideology.
Scourge of the “woke” spirit. It is not difficult to follow the trail of his shift because Musk himself (like Trump) often goes to his social network without any complexes to convey ideas, announcements and reflections. There, in X, he has openly advocated for “defeating the woke mindset virus,” a philosophy that, he claims, threatens to “destroy civilization.” He shared the same ideas during a recent interview with Jordan Peterson in which he spoke of the “death” of his son Xavier, “killed by the woke virus,” in the mogul’s opinion. In reality, the young man had undergone a transition of gender.
The case of his daughter was particularly well publicized, both because of Musk’s belligerent stance and because of the statements of the young woman, Vivian Wilson, since she came of age in 2022, who chose to change her name and adopt her mother’s surname. “He doesn’t know what I was like as a child, he just wasn’t there,” said the young womanin Threads. “And in the short time he was with me, I was relentlessly harassed for my femininity and my homosexuality.” The young woman no longer has a relationship with her father and has announced that, after Trump’s election victory, she plans to leave the US.
An ideology shaped live. His daughter’s case was perhaps the most publicized, but not the only one that has publicly shaped Musk’s position. In 2020, he openly criticized the lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19, which he went so far as to call “fascist,” and after taking control of Twitter, he reinstated conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Donald Trump, who was banned in 2021 after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, back on the network.
Over the last few months, the billionaire has also adopted a markedly political profile, openly supporting Trump (and with a good pinch of millions) and taking positions on European politics with an attitude that has annoyed some of the continent’s leaders. In the UK, Musk has made serious accusations against Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in Germany he has supported the far-right AfD party, and in Italy he has shown great affinity with Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister and leader of Brothers of Italy.
The “reactionary international”. Against this backdrop, French President Emmanuel Macron has gone so far as to publicly accuse Musk of “supporting a new reactionary international”. “If ten years ago we had been told that the owner of one of the world’s largest social networks would support a new reactionary international and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany, who would have imagined it?” the French leader reflected on at the beginning of January at a conference with ambassadors.
Far from being intimidated, a few days ago Musk promoted the slogan “Make Europe Great Again”, an adaptation of MAGA, the slogan “Make America Great Again” that has also gone to Trump.
What if it’s pure strategy? The salute that Musk left in Washington yesterday might not be a Nazi wink. Nor is it an inappropriate and misinterpreted gesture. There is another alternative theory that connects with a key concept: the “war for attention,” which Ezra Klein theorized recently in the pages of The New York Times.
Musk’s objective would simply be to capture attention, to be talked about, to monopolize (and stir up) the debate. In this case, between those who defend him and argue that the salute was a provocation and those who consider it a Nazi gesture.
Attention, the great political capital. “What Trump and Musk discovered is that what matters is the atmosphere of total attention […]. That’s where the fight is,” reflects Chris Hayes, MSNBC anchor. In Klein’s opinion, Trump and Musk are “masters” at how to manage attention and the owner of X has also become “the richest person in the world in terms of attention”, an asset even more important than economic wealth.
In today’s politics, the key would no longer be ideas and frameworks, but capturing attention with confusing and controversial moves like the one Musk offered yesterday on prime time. And it’s not the first time. A few weeks ago he achieved something similar with another gesture that still divides opinion and is difficult to interpret: the billionaire changed his name to Kekius Maximus. Why? What was the reason? It’s open to debate. And maybe that’s the point.
