During a rally following Donald Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk performed a gesture with his arm that looked shockingly like a Roman Salute, made infamous by HItler and used by other murderous fascists like Benito Mussolini. The transnational far right, including a plethora of neo-Nazis, shared a video of the salute, taking it as a sign of support, whether Musk intended the gesture or not. Musk’s move was interpreted as the world’s richest man openly embracing an ideology once thought to exist solely on the fringe. To neo-Nazis around the world, Musk’s gesture represents a colossal step toward realizing their dream of a “fourth Reich” in the United States.
Since purchasing Twitter in October 2022, Musk has become increasingly involved in politics both domestically and transnationally. Under the guise of “free speech,” Musk has used his influence on Twitter to bolster far-right ideas, eviscerating content moderation, and spread disinformation, including endorsing the violently racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which falsely claims that elites are secretly organizing the “replacement” of the “native” white population with non-white immigrants.
Musk claimed that the Biden “administration [was] actively facilitating illegal immigration” because “they view them as future Dem voters.” More recently, Musk came out in support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD), a political party mired in extremist connections. AfD members are notorious for having participated in a secret meeting in November 2023 with Austrian Identitarian Martin Sellner, who delivered a lecture in favor of “remigration,” meaning the forced removal of non-white people from Germany. Remigration has become a popular policy proposal amongst white supremacists in the United States, including at the 2024 American Renaissance Conference, and has been parroted by Donald Trump.
In 2023, Elon Musk supported a statement claiming that Jewish people push “hatred against whites.” (Source: Telegram)
Musk responded to criticism of the salute as “sooo tired” on Twitter, claiming that critiques of overtly Nazi imagery and fascist beliefs reflects an “everyone is Hitler attack.” Sharing a post by Chaya Raichik of the rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok, Musk also criticised the “legacy media” for not calling out other politicians who had pictures of themselves seeming like they were doing the same salute, saying “the legacy media is pure propaganda.”
Perhaps undermining Musk’s flippancy about his “salute” are the positive reactions by American extremists, including those from groups that engage in political violence, demonstrating elation at Musk’s apparent support for their Nazi ideology.
The Republic of Texas Proud Boys, a chapter of the white supremacist Proud Boys, which had a multitude of members either pardoned or had their sentences commuted for their role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, posted a video of Musk performing the salute. One commenter replied “Seig heil,” a Nazi salute meaning “Hail Victory!” Similarly, the Ohio Proud Boys posted the video, captioned “Hail Trump!”
Proud Boys Ohio shares a video of Musk doing the Roman Salute captioned “Hail Trump!” (Source: Telegram)
The Washington chapter of White Lives Matter (WLM), a transnational white supremacist movement, one of whose Ohio members attacked a Church with molotov cocktails in an attempt to stop a drag show in 2023, posted “Thanks for (sometimes) hearing us Elon” alongside a picture of WLM members holding a banner that read, “ELON MUSK STOP WHITE GENOCIDE.” White genocide refers to the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which has inspired several of its believers to commit mass casualty attacks, including at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.
WLM Washington shares an image supporting Elon Musk, captioned “Thanks for (sometimes) hearing us, Elon.” (Source: Telegram)
Christopher Pohlhaus, leader of the neo-Nazi Blood Tribe, a group that played a pivotal role in platforming a conspiracy about Haitians in Ohio eating people’s pets, mentioned by Trump in a presidential debate, posted a video of Blood Tribe members doing the Roman salute aligned with Musk doing the same. A poster on a National Socialist Movement thread, a neo-Nazi organization present at the 2017 Charlottesville riots, pointed out that “Elon Musk just did a roman/Nazi salute.”
Christopher Pohlhaus posts a video of Blood Tribe members performing the Nazi salute, with the video of Musk’s salute superimposed to demonstrate the similarities. (Source: Telegram)
Other Americans to comment on the salute were former Blaze TV reporter and now-Groyper Jon Miller, who posted the video alongside two “lightning bolt” emojis, which are commonly used by neo-Nazis to symbolize the SS logo. Miller followed up by sharing a screenshot of Musk’s tweet talking about “legacy media” being “propaganda” by saying “to pretend that Elon’s roman salute is the same as any of these is actually the propaganda. These were all obvious waves that were captured at an unfortunate angle. elon, on the other hand, threw an aggressive sieg heil. and anyone who’s being honest can see the difference.”
Jon Miller refutes Musk’s claim that his salute was taken out of context, comparing his video to stills taken of other politicians with their arms out. Miller said compared to those, Musk’s video was an “aggressive sieg heil.” (Source: Telegram)
Amerikaner, a neo-Nazi outlet, said “we need to get Musk to Oktoberfest to teach him how to throw a proper Roman [salute].” White nationalist media outlet Red Ice TV called the salute an “overt and plainly intentional Roman.” Andrew Torba, who founded Gab, a social media platform infested with white supremacists and hate speech, posted a screenshot of Musk doing the salute captioned “Incredible things are happening already.” Andrew Tate, a violent misogynist currently awaiting trial for charges relating to trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, and money laundering, told his followers on Twitter to “lean into” the optics of appearing to be a Nazi, and even encouraged them to “Nazi salute until people are over it.”
In Canada, adherents of the white supremacist Diagolon movement, cheered on Musk while invoking Nazi-era slogans. Rob Primerano, better known as “Rob Primo,” posted an edit of the video with Musk superimposed in front of a Nazi crowd and a swastika captioned “Elon is fired right up for Trumps fourth Reich.” He made another post of Musk performing the salute captioned “HAIL VICTORY,” which is the English translation of the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute. A Diagolon-supporting account called “East Coast Kitchen Party” posted the video, leading commenters to say “Seig Heil,” call Musk doing the salute “kind of awesome,” and post GIFs of Hitler performing the salute.
Rob Primerano posts an edit of Musk performing the Roman salute with a slew of Nazi imagery, captioned “Elon is fired right up for Trumps (sic) fourth Reich.” (Source: Telegram)
In Europe, chat members in Austrian Identitarian Martin Sellner’s Telegram channel noticed the salute, saying “finally… it was about time,” and that they “kn[ow] that greeting from somewhere.” Albanian neo-Nazi movement Brerore made a post on Twitter with a video of the salute captioned “thank you.” Irish Groyper and antisemite Keith Woods posted the video captioned “Ok maybe woke really is dead.” Woke is often a term used by the far right to demean progressive politics, to which their answer is often fascism and the dismantling of marginalized communities’ rights.
Australian neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, linking back to Keith Woods’ previously mentioned comment about the salute, referred to it as a “Donald Trump White Power moment,” drawing a connection between Musk, who contributed $277 million to help Trump and his allies into office, and the new era of politics that Trump will supposedly usher into the United States.
The impact of Musk’s salute, no matter the original intent, can not be underestimated. The transnational far right has already deemed it to be an explicit sign of support for a genocidal ideology, discrediting Musk’s own assertion that comparisons of his salute to the Nazis is merely a “dirty trick.”
