Elon Musk Did Nothing Wrong
/On inauguration day, the richest man in the world graced the stage of a packed arena while fist-pumping, throwing hands into the air, and twirling to take in the cheers at every angle. Elon Musk, one of Trump’s most consequential supporters, has created many meme moments on the campaign trail. He’s high-energy yet extremely awkward.
He hopped and pumped his double fists, then yelled “YES!” into the microphone, raising his fists high. “This…this is what victory feels like. Yeah!” He excitedly hit the podium, bearing the presidential seal. “And this was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization.” Musk had made that case for a while, most notably on Joe Rogan’s podcast the day before the election. When Rogan posted the episode, he announced his endorsement of President Trump.
Musk explained that some elections are important, and others are not, “But this one really mattered. And I just want to say thank you for making it happen. Thank you.” Then, a controversy exploded. Elon slapped his heart, then extended his hand out to the crowd. You can hear him grunt while doing the motion to drive it home. Then he turned and made the motion toward the people behind him. “Thank you.” He placed his hand back on his chest. “My heart goes out to you.”
Now, it obviously looks to me that Elon Musk gratefully threw his heart out to the people who voted to save human civilization. Why wouldn’t he be gracious toward them? But if you listen to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or even PBS News, you might believe Elon Musk was a Nazi giving a salute. Senator Chris Murphy said, “Its not a gaffe. It’s back to back, clear as day Nazi salutes.”
If you freeze-frame anyone with their hand extended, you’ll catch them in a controversial position that looks like a Nazi salute. That doesn’t mean they’re doing it. Play the video. Look at the context.
Not only does the context of the moment grant a different conclusion, but so does Musk’s character and actions. In 2022, Elon Musk banned Kanye West from Twitter for posting some odd remarks and a symbol combining a swastika and a Jewish star, claiming it “violated our rule against incitement to violence.” Musk eventually allowed West and other controversial accounts back on his platform due to free speech principles, but many antisemitic users recently had their verification access stripped.
Prominent conservative commentator Ben Shapiro defended Musk by posting a photo of himself and the billionaire at Auschwitz. It was captioned: “You stupid f***ing idiots.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Elon Musk is being falsely smeared. Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state. I thank him for this.”
The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) also defended Elon Musk and called it “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.” On TikTok, mothers with autistic children have expressed sympathy for Musk—who has Asperger syndrome—stating their children would also make similar gestures.
Joe Rogan also defended Musk and recounted how the media used specific images of him with raised arms, so they could also paint him as a Nazi.
The Left may say Musk’s actions were indisputable, but they claimed the same about President Trump calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists “very fine people.” This hoax has been debunked many times now, but former President Barack Obama, then-President Joe Biden, and then-Vice President Kamala Harris all repeated the hoax on the 2024 campaign trail to smear him.
Young Turks commentator Cenk Uygur believes Musk purposely did the gesture as a troll, but that doesn’t make much sense either. Why would Musk sully the presidential parade, after saving human civilization, with a Nazi salute? Why purposely distract focus from all the good he’s done? Why draw negative attention to himself, knowing that he’s struggled to gain advertisers on X?
Many have asked why Musk won’t simply apologize if it was all an honest misunderstanding. And the answer to that is simple: he did nothing wrong. It is not Musk’s responsibility to correct your imagination when his enemies offend you with a blatant smear. You need to be smarter. His mockery has been a consistent denial of the media’s description of events. Musk even retweeted videos of French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron making a similar gesture. “It was astonishing how insanely hard legacy media tried to cancel me for saying ‘my heart goes out to you’ and moving my hand from my heart to the audience. In the end, this deception will just be another nail in the coffin of the legacy media.”
Elon Musk also tweeted, “The radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi.”
It is rich that the political Left took such offense to Musk’s gesture while they tried to explain away “from the river to the sea” or “globalize the intifada.” They criticized Israeli actress Gal Gadot for showing a film of raw footage about October 7, downplayed the monstrosities committed against the Israeli people, ignored the fear of Jewish students on college campuses, and even victim blamed them. And when Israel launched retaliation to retrieve their hostages and take out Hamas, they were wrongfully accused of genocide. They couldn’t even strategically rescue their hostages without criticism. When it comes to the Jewish people, Hamas and Nazis want the same thing: extermination.
White supremacist David Duke opted to vote for Jill Stein in 2024 because Donald Trump was too pro-Israel. Richard Spencer voted for Kamala Harris for similar reasons. Antisemitism extends beyond the Left side of the political aisle. It has an ugly role on the Right as well. It would be horrible if one of the most powerful men in the world openly uplifted Nazis and helped legitimize white supremacists. That’s why it’s a good thing that the ADL defended Musk and debunked his critics. The media and the Democrats are exacerbating a problem—not fixing one.
Fortunately, Democrats have clowned themselves so many times, that their “Nazi” cries are virtually ineffective. Remember in October when Trump had a “Nazi rally” because Adolf Hitler once held a rally at Madison Square Garden, even though Franklin D. Roosevelt did the same? You can only falsely accuse everyone you don’t like of being “Hitler” so many times before it becomes dull.
