In the United States, Donald Trump has only just returned to control of the White House and a controversy of international dimension is already underway. One of his main advisers, Elon Musk, is suspected of having performed a salute that many described as “Nazi” or “fascist” twice during a Donald Trump rally in Washington.
Elon Musk gave a speech on stage at the Capital One Arena, where supporters of Donald Trump had gathered for a meeting of the new American president, a few hours after his inauguration. He thanked the crowd for allowing the Republican’s return to the White House before tapping his left chest with his right hand, extending his arm with an open palm, then repeating the gesture while turning toward the rest of the crowd. the crowd behind him.
A few hours later, seeing the controversy grow, Elon Musk decided to discuss his gesture on his social network. “Frankly, the ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is so outdated,” he wrote on X.
-“It didn’t take long”
Historian Claire Aubin, a specialist in Nazism in the United States, estimated that Elon Musk’s gesture was indeed a “sieg heil”, the Nazi salute. “My professional opinion is that you are all right,” she said on X to people who interpreted this salute to the crowd as an open allusion to the Nazis. “Well, it didn’t take long,” Democratic congressman Jimmy Gomez criticized on X. Another historian expert on fascism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat also affirmed on X that “it was indeed a Nazi salute, and one which was very aggressive at that”.
However, for historian Aaron Astor, the billionaire’s salute should not be categorized as Nazi. “I have criticized Elon Musk many times for letting neo-Nazis pollute this platform,” he wrote on X before adding: “But this gesture is not a Nazi salute. It’s a socially awkward hand signal from an autistic man where he says to the crowd “my heart goes out to you.” The Tesla boss announced in 2021 that he had Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.
