In the United States, Donald Trump has only just regained control of the White House and a very big controversy is already underway. And this affects one of his main advisors: Elon Musk.
The boss of
A gesture in front of Trump supporters
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.
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, in reaction to an image of the richest man in the world making this salute on stage. 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”.
Critics even in Israel
Some foreign daily newspapers like the Israeli Haaretz or the British The Guardian claimed the American billionaire “appeared” to have performed a “fascist” or “fascist-style” salute.
-“It seems like he had kept it inside him for a while and he was finally able to let go,” declared former Democratic congresswoman Cori Bush on X. “As if he was trained in front of the mirror to find the exact angle,” she added.
Our file on the United States
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.
Despite around ten publications on his social network X since he made his gesture, Elon Musk did not react immediately to the emerging controversy.
