Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
Last month at the celebratory rally for Donald Trump winning the presidency, Elon Musk made an alarming gesture in front of the rally and the entire body of the media. Musk put his hand to his heart before raising his arm over his head, straight, and with the palm of his hand facing down. Some have compared the gesture to the Nazi salute, a gesture associated with Adolf Hitler during World War II.
There have been mixed opinions across the board about the gesture with some wanting to see Musk take accountability for the action. According to Forbes, leaders from around the world are criticizing Musk for his salute including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Yolanda Diaz.
However according to The New York Times, the Anti-Defamation League, also known as ADL, which has dealt with Musk prior to the incident responded to the incident on X saying Musk “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm and that it was ‘not a Nazi salute.’’’
Many seem to praise the action including Andrew Torba, the founder of Gab, posted a photo of Musk making the gesture with the caption “incredible things are happening already.” According to The New York Times, Musk’s opinion was made on X. He mentioned that better dirty tricks were needed and that everyone’s Hitler attack is overused. Musk even posted puns relating to the gesture in an attempt to play it off as a joke.
Marsha Pearl, executive director of The Blue Card, an organization that supports Holocaust survivors was reportedly “deeply troubled” by the gesture and called it a Nazi salute. In The New York Times Pearl continued to express, “Elon Musk has been engaged with antisemitic incidents in the past. Because of that, it was an unmistakable symbol of hate, of violence, of genocide.”
The Nazi Salute is illegal in Germany, Austria, and would be prosecuted as hate speech in other European countries. According to Forbes, the salute itself is believed to have roots in Ancient Rome but was adopted in Italy while Italy’s National Fascist Party was led by Benito Mussolini. One critic Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University who specializes in Fascism, said that Musk’s gesture was “a Nazi salute – and a very belligerent one too.” Considering the timing of the gesture, it only added more fuel to the division in politics and raises concern.
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