During the inauguration events of President Trump, the newly elected administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, threw his right arm up in an alarmingly and all too familiar salute. Musk supporters were quick to his defense, coming up with a myriad of obscure salutes the man could’ve been attempting, but the reality of the situation is that no matter what he meant by this gesture, it is still inherently linked to the fascist leaders of the 1930s. The blatant excuses are only proof of a disturbing lack of media literacy.
No one wants to believe that the land of the free is rapidly descending into a fascistic oligarchy, but these symbols must be heavily scrutinized. During Musk’s speech, he touched his chest with his right arm and then shot it upward in a diagonal with his palm facing down, exactly like the Nazi salute. Musk supporters argue that he was performing a Roman salute, a salute that was popularized in silent films that were set in ancient times, however when it is realized that Benito Mussolini adopted the Roman salute during his reign, it becomes a moot point. Even if that is what Musk was doing, that salute is forever blood-stained and inappropriate to perform, especially on a political stage.
For people who are out of the loop, this event may have seemed to come out of nowhere, but unfortunately, this is not the first time Musk has done something of this nature. Musk is a big supporter of the AfD, a political party that the German government has marked as a far-right extremist group since 2021, and even spoke at one of their recent rallies. Exactly two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day, he told the crowd that there’s “too much focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that.” This kind of speech is one that an American pseudo-politician has no business giving to German extremists.
No matter one’s party affiliation, it is critical that the American people are constantly vigilant and remain wary of their elected leaders. The Lemkin Institution for Genocide Prevention recently issued a red flag alert for America in response to Musk’s actions. The entire reason everyone is forced to take history classes from K-12 is so it is not repeated. Everyone in America has seen what a Nazi salute looks like, and everyone knows the implications of it. Denying what was clearly presented to the entire country on live television is dangerous. No matter what side, politicians will always be more self-interested than anything else. Americans must think critically and for themselves to form opinions instead of simple party loyalty bandwagoning.
