When Elon Musk gave his own victory speech following Donald Trump’s inauguration, it was something he did — rather than something he said — which ignited the biggest reaction.
The billionaire, who was Trump’s top donor during the 2024 election, told a crowd in Washington, D.C., “This is what victory feels like.” Then he saluted those in attendance, twice, with a straight-armed salute.
“My heart goes out to you,” Musk then said. “It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
To some of his supporters and fans, the salute appeared to be a gesture of his gratitude that was distorted as clips were shared on social media. To many others, mostly among his critics but also including some on the far right, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the straight-armed, palm-down salute of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.
“For the record, the distance between Trump declaring that he was saved by God to make America great again & Musk delivering the Hitler salute was less than 4 hours,” tweeted Steve Schmidt, a former Republican operative turned critic of the party with 1.4 million followers on X, the social network Musk owns.
“My first glimpse of the inauguration is Elon Musk grabbing his chest and throwing a seig heil. Not encouraging,” tweeted Mike Rothschild, a writer whose books, including “Jewish Space Lasers,” examine antisemitic conspiracy theories on the far right.
Jerry Nadler, the Jewish Democratic congressman from Manhattan, called the gesture antisemitic and said other officials should condemn it.
“I never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal,” Nadler tweeted. “This abhorrent gesture has no place in our society and belongs in the darkest chapters of human history. I urge all of my colleagues to unite in condemning this hateful gesture for what it is: antisemitism.”
Around the same time as Nadler’s tweet, the Anti-Defamation League, the antisemitism watchdog group, issued its own ruling: “not a Nazi salute.”
The ADL has tangled with Musk over hate speech regulation on X; the group’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, has also praised Musk’s business acumen.
“This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety. It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge,” the group tweeted .
“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath,” the ADL added. “This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”
The reaction underscores the sensitivity of the moment, with many Americans on the lookout for signs that Trump’s second term will empower far-right extremists within the United States. Some see Musk, who has removed a range of guardrails against hate speech on X and recently championed far-right extremists in Germany and the United Kingdom, as the most influential avatar of that potential.
CNN stopped its broadcast of Musk’s speech for two anchors to discuss what one called an “odd-looking salute.”
The anchors did not explicitly compare Musk’s gesture to a “Heil Hitler” salute. (Trump’s legal team previously sued CNN over its on-air hosts’ comparisons of his rhetoric to that of the Nazis, seeking $475 million in a suit that a Trump-appointed federal judge later dismissed .) But Kasie Hunt noted that Musk is a supporter of a German far-right party and made the analogy obliquely.
“Yes, that salute was evocative of things that we have seen throughout history,” Hunt said. She also signaled that she believed Musk’s supporters would understand the salute the same way she had, saying, “I think our viewers are smart and they can take a look at that but it’s not something you typically see at American political rallies.”
The Nazi salute was itself borrowed from Italian fascists, who adapted it from the ancient Romans. Musk has venerated (and shared imagery of himself in) ancient Rome and has suggested America faces problems like those that led to the end of the Roman Empire.
Musk did not immediately comment on the uproar on his account on X.
The Jewish pro-Trump pundit Batya Ungar-Sargon, who sides with Musk on speech issues but disagrees with him on the value of issuing visas to workers from abroad, said she attributed his gesture to his famous awkwardness.
“As a person with a *strong* track record of criticizing Elon Musk, I feel extremely confident asserting that this was not a Nazi salute,” she tweeted. “Elon Musk is a friend to the Jews. This is a man with Aspergers exuberantly throwing his heart to the crowd. We don’t need to invent outrage.”
Later, she posted again about Musk’s gesture with a reference to a scientific theory under which a hypothetical subject can be seen in multiple ways with equal accuracy.
“Man it’s not even 5pm on Inauguration Day and we already have a Schroedingers Nazi salute,” Ungar-Sargon wrote . “Gonna be a long four years…”
And whatever Musk meant, it’s clear that some on the far right saw something they recognized in his gesture.
“I don’t care if this was a mistake,” wrote the neo-Nazi Christopher Pohlhaus on Telegram. “I’m going to enjoy the tears over it.”
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