Elon Musk's 'odd-looking' salute sure looked like a 'Sieg heil' to me | Opinion

Elon Musk (R-Billionaireville) was so excited about President Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday he threw out two stiff-armed salutes that looked just like what the bad guys in World War II movies do.

Before appearing to “heil” the crowd, Musk told Trump supporters at a post-inauguration rally in Capitol One Arena: “There are elections that come and go, and some elections are important and some are not, but this one really mattered. And I just want to say thank you for making it happen.”

He then thumped his heart with his right hand and thrust the same arm into the air at an angle that, quite frankly, I did Nazi coming. Then he did it a second time, with a big, dopey grin on his face. The move sent "Nazi salute" trending on Google and various social media platforms.

The Anti-Defamation League posted a statement on social media saying: "It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge. In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath."

I'm no historian, but Elon Musk's weird salute sure looked ... WWII-era?

That's sure not how I or a slew of others saw it. The ADL was criticized last year by its former head, Abe Foxman, for going easy on Trump in the wake of a wildly racist rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The bottom line is this: Upon seeing a billionaire who appears to be the American president’s right-hand man excitedly give what can most charitably be called a “fascist salute,” the correct reaction is: Gulp. (“Uh-oh” would also be accepted.)

The incorrect reaction is what CNN’s Erin Burnett said of Musk: “You saw him come out with that odd-looking salute.”

“Odd looking” is the Hamburglar-style hat Melania Trump wore to the inauguration. Letting one’s inner fascist loose in a moment of excitement is something else altogether.

Some tried to defend Musk's salute as 'Roman.' That's not a thing.

Some ran to Musk’s defense, saying what he did was “a Roman salute,” like the kind of thing you’d see in a gladiator movie. The problem with that is the pop-culture-ized Roman salute lacks a historical basis. According to “The Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology” by Martin Winkler: “Not a single Roman work of art ‒ sculpture, coinage, or painting ‒ displays a salute of the kind that is found in Fascism, Nazism, and related ideologies.”

Suffice it to say that when anyone sees that style of salute, the first thing they think of isn’t ancient Rome.

So did Musk mean to do a Nazi salute or was he just ... excited?

So was this an intentional provocation by Musk or a momentary revelation of what lurks inside him? Who knows?

Whatever Musk intended with his whatever-you-want-to-call-it salute, some far-right extremists immediately got excited about it, which seems non-ideal.

And Musk’s recent embrace of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which the German government considers an extremist group and whose leader was fined twice last year for using a banned Nazi slogan, doesn’t do him any favors.

There’s also just this simple question: Who, regardless of their level of excitement, just fires off a salute that even resembles the one used by Adolf Hitler?

When it comes to fascism, I'd rather overreact than underreact

You’re welcome to parse Musk’s arm motions however you like, and you’re also welcome to label me an overreacting liberal ninny.

But I’m guessing there were plenty of folks in the country where that salute gained its infamy who, at a particular moment in history, thought some were overreacting as well.

So I’ll stick with my reaction and say maybe Americans should be more than a little concerned that the guy who cozies up to fascists and embraces a U.S. president who routinely talks like a fascist is so close to the halls of power.

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and salutes like a cosplaying Nazi … well, you figure it out from there.

This column was updated to add new information.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk