Neo-Nazis are celebrating Elon Musk by giving two Nazi salutes during a speech Monday to tens of thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters.
“Elections come and go, some elections matter, some don’t, but this one really mattered,” Musk said during his speech at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC, hours after Trump was sworn in. as the 47th President of the United States. . “And I just want to thank you for making this possible.” THANKS.”
At this point, Musk placed his right hand on his chest before extending it straight out with his palm facing down and fingers touching, a gesture widely recognized as the “Roman salute.” Adopted by the fascist movement a century ago, it was used notably by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany, and is still associated today with the fascist right, particularly in Italy.
After making this gesture for the first time, Musk then turned to the members of the crowd who were seated behind him and, with his back to the camera, repeated the gesture.
“My heart goes out to you,” Musk added.
Musk then shared a clip of his speech on clip posted by Musk cuts to a shot of the audience before returning to show them giving the second salute.
Musk, X and the Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The response from the neo-Nazi community around the world was instantaneous and unanimous.
“Amazing things are already happening,” Andrew Torba, the founder of Gab, a social media platform popular with anti-Semites and white supremacists, wrote on a photo of Musk giving the salute.
“The neo-Nazi movement as a whole seems to be eating away at him,” says Nick Martin, an investigative journalist who closely tracks extremist groups and runs the online publication. The informant. “He performed two unmistakable Nazi salutes and they got the message loud and clear.”
“WE FUCKING BACK,” the administrator of a Nazi meme channel on Telegram wrote under a clip of Musk giving the salute. Group members responded with the lightning bolt emoji, a well-known neo-Nazi reference to the SS.
“I don’t care if it was a mistake, I’m going to enjoy the tears,” said party leader Christopher Pohlhaus. American neo-Nazi group Blood Tribewrote on his Telegram channel under a gif of the musky salute.
Keith Woods, a prominent Irish far-right influencer who has praised Musk on several occasions, responded to these actions by writing on »
Evan Kilgore, a right-wing political commentator, wrote on » Kilgore later wrote: “We are so back. »
Kilgore, who is a Holocaust denierworked as an ambassador for Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. The conservative activist group held a pre-inauguration ball Sunday evening featuring JD Vance, who was sworn in as vice president today, and the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
Musk has embraced far-right ideology and figures around the world, including imprisoned Islamophobic activist Tommy Robinson in the United Kingdom, over the past two years. More recently, he has promoted the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany. In an hour-long interview with party leader Alice Weidel earlier this month, Musk subscribed to the wild conspiracy theory that Hitler was a communist.
