Perspective
On Jan. 20, Donald J. Trump was sworn into office as the 47th President of the United States of America. Following the inauguration, a rally was held for Trump where Elon Musk, co-leader of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency and CEO of X, Tesla and SpaceX, gave a speech. During his speech, Musk hit his chest with his fist then extended his right arm into the air with his palm facing down in a fashion that looked similar to the act of heiling Hitler. He followed the motion, performed two separate times, one faced toward the audience and once faced away, and said “My heart goes out to you.”
The action prompted intense reactions on both sides of the political aisle, and also from foreign countries that tuned into the inauguration, its subsequent rally, and the countless social media posts that followed. Musk’s supporters justified the salute, with TikTok user @levitate_rce claiming that “He’s a socially awkward billionaire trying to say thanks” and did not intentionally heil the infamous fascist dictator. Others blamed his self-diagnosed neurodivergence, including TikTok user @hearts.444kenz commenting “He has Aspergers”, an out-of-date medical term for autism named after Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician. The Musk supporters attributed his arm jutting into the air multiple times as “stimming”, a kind of repetitive movement used by neurodivergent people to regulate their emotions or express themselves.
Some supporters claim that the gesture was not based on the Nazi salute. Instead they said it was a Roman or Bellamy salute. The Roman salute is also categorized as a fascist salute with debated ties to Ancient Rome and used by Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. The Bellamy salute was an American salute used for the Pledge of Allegiance before the creation of the Roman and Nazi salute. Once the similarities were noticed, it was changed to the hand over the heart gesture Americans use today. Organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League have come to Musk’s defense claiming the gesture was an awkward expression of his enthusiasm and not the Nazi salute. Musk himself denied any wrongdoing in the use of the gesture. He has failed to explain his intentions and claimed Democrats are “playing dirty tricks”. He has used social media to talk on public figures, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on the social media platform X after she voiced her distaste for his actions and said she has “100% lost her marbles”.
Those opposed to Musk and his actions at the rally cited the similarities between what Musk did and the Nazi salute, which includes the way he beat on his chest, his extended arm, his downward facing palm and his partially tucked thumb. In arguments online, TikTok users including @katrinany suggested that people who attempt to defend Musk should “post yourself on here doing it”. This argument aimed to make his supporters think harder about the perception of Musk’s gesture instead of his possible intentions. Politicians from other countries have weighed in on the discussion to voice their worry and disgust with the salute. Karl Lauterbach, Germany’s health minister, explained his worry with the gesture, posting on X, “From what we know so far, I definitely don’t think highly of @elonmusk as a politician. But such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat”.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a symbol as “something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance.” The action of, and those similar to, extending one’s right arm with their palm facing down is a recognizable symbol of hate popularized by fascists decades ago to communicate their support for the genocide of millions of innocent people. People’s perception of the symbol cannot be ignored or erased with good or neutral intentions, and we as a world should not set the precedent that the meaning of symbols can be so easily justified or, in the worst case, forgotten.
