The internet practically melted down on January 20, 2025. It wasn't because of a rocket launch or a new Tesla model. Instead, every corner of social media was hyper-fixated on a single, split-second gesture made by Elon Musk. While celebrating Donald Trump's inauguration at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Musk did something with his right arm that looked, to many, like a Hitler salute.
It was fast. It was sharp. And it happened twice.
Honestly, the footage is jarring if you’ve spent any time studying 20th-century history. Musk jumped onto the stage, did a quick dance—his usual awkward, high-energy shuffle—and then transitioned into a series of gestures to thank the crowd. He slapped his chest, then shot his right arm out and up at a diagonal angle, palm facing down. He then turned to the people behind him and did it again.
The fallout was instant. Within two hours, "Elon Musk Nazi salute" was trending with a 500% spike in search volume.
The Viral Moment: Accident or Dog Whistle?
If you watch the clip, you’ll see Musk say, "My heart goes out to you," right as he makes the motion. This has become the primary defense for his supporters. They argue it was a literal physical representation of his words—moving his hand from his heart out toward the audience.
Others aren't buying it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) quickly labeled it an "apparent Nazi salute." They pointed out that far-right groups on Telegram and X were already celebrating the move as a "Roman salute," a term often used by neo-Nazis to provide a thin layer of deniability for the Sieg Heil. For groups like the Goyim Defense League, this wasn't an accident. They saw it as a "powerful symbol" of their movement entering the mainstream.
But then you have the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In a move that surprised a lot of people, the ADL initially urged everyone to "take a breath." They called it an "awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm" rather than a premeditated fascist signal.
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Why This Specific Gesture Is Illegal in Germany
In the United States, we have the First Amendment. You can basically do whatever you want with your arms in public, even if it makes people sick to their stomachs. Germany is a different story.
Under the German criminal code (Strafgesetzbuch section 86a), the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations is strictly forbidden. This includes the Hitlergruß. If Musk had made that exact motion on a stage in Berlin, he could have faced up to three years in prison or a massive fine.
German newspapers like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung were brutal. They argued it was impossible for a man of Musk’s intelligence and "student of history" status—a title he often claims for himself—to be unaware of the symbolism. To them, the "palm down, arm straight" combination is too specific to be a coincidence.
A Pattern of Controversy
To understand why people are so quick to jump to the worst conclusion, you have to look at the context. This didn't happen in a vacuum. Musk has been under fire for a long time regarding his content moderation on X.
- The "Great Replacement" Post: In late 2023, he replied "the actual truth" to a post claiming Jewish communities were pushing "dialectical hatred against whites."
- The AfD Support: He has expressed support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party that German intelligence services have monitored for extremist tendencies.
- The Holocaust Jokes: Just days after the "salute" controversy broke in 2025, Musk posted a string of puns on X involving names like Goebbels, Himmler, and Hess.
"Don't say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down!" he wrote.
That post actually cost him the ADL's support. Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the ADL, reversed course and hammered Musk, stating that "The Holocaust is not a joke." It’s one thing to have an awkward arm movement; it’s another to spend your Thursday afternoon making light of the architects of genocide.
The Asperger's Defense
Some observers, including Maryville College professor Aaron Astor, have suggested a different angle. Musk has publicly discussed having Asperger's (now commonly diagnosed under Autism Spectrum Disorder).
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People on the spectrum often struggle with "proprioception"—the sense of where your body is in space—and "non-verbal communication." If you’ve ever seen Musk speak in person, he’s famously fidgety. His hands move in ways that don't always match the rhythm of his speech.
The argument here is that Musk was just trying to wave or "throw his heart" to the crowd and his motor skills produced a stiff, diagonal motion that happened to mimic a fascist salute. It’s a "socially awkward wave" rather than a political statement.
The Experts Weigh In
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an NYU professor and one of the world's leading experts on fascism, didn't mince words. She called it a "very belligerent" Nazi salute.
She argues that leaders like Musk use "ambiguous signals" to mobilize extremist bases while maintaining enough "plausible deniability" to keep their corporate interests alive. It's a tactic called "dog-whistling." You send a frequency that only the "dogs" (the extremists) can hear, while everyone else just hears a weird whistle.
On the flip side, some Jewish leaders like Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who hosted Musk at Auschwitz in 2024, have been more cautious. They point to Musk’s visits to death camps and his support for Israel as evidence that he isn't a secret admirer of the Third Reich.
What This Means for X and Tesla
The real-world consequences of these "awkward moments" are starting to pile up.
- Advertiser Exodus: Major brands have cited "brand safety" concerns as a reason for pulling ads from X.
- Stock Pressure: Some asset managers have faced calls to divest from Tesla because of Musk’s personal brand becoming too "radioactive."
- User Migration: Following the January 2025 incident, a coalition of Jewish organizations announced they were leaving X entirely.
Musk’s response to the whole thing? "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."
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He seems convinced that this is all a coordinated campaign by the "radical left" to smear him. He even joked about his own algorithm, saying, "If I see one more damn Nazi salute in my feed, I'm gonna lose my mind... This algorithm sucks!!"
The Reality of the "Elon Musk Nazi Salute"
So, was it a salute?
If you look at the mechanics, it hit all the visual markers:
- Extended right arm.
- Fingers together.
- Palm facing down.
- Diagonal angle.
However, the intent is the part we can't prove. Was it a clumsy "heart-to-hand" gesture by a man who isn't great at body language? Or was it a deliberate nod to the far-right groups that have become his most vocal supporters?
Most people have already made up their minds based on how they feel about Musk in general. If you like him, it was a mistake. If you hate him, it was a signal.
The problem for Musk is that in the world of high-stakes business and global politics, "it was just a mistake" only works so many times before people stop believing it. When you combine a "clumsy" gesture with a week of Holocaust puns and a history of boosting far-right accounts, the "awkwardness" starts to look like a choice.
How to Navigate This Information
If you're trying to form your own opinion on the Elon Musk Nazi salute, don't just rely on a 5-second TikTok clip. Do these three things to get the full picture:
- Watch the full video: Look at the 30 seconds before and after the gesture. Context matters. See if his other movements are equally stiff or if this one stands out as unique.
- Look at the German reaction: Because the salute is a crime there, German analysts are much more clinical in how they break down the physical posture of the gesture compared to American pundits.
- Evaluate the timing: Consider that this happened at a political rally during a time of extreme national tension. Symbols carry more weight in those environments than they do in a private setting.
The "truth" likely sits somewhere in the messy middle, but as long as Musk continues to toy with these symbols, the controversy isn't going anywhere.