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Elon Musk’s daughter says father’s rally gesture was ‘definitely a Nazi salute’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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Well, according all the comments here that I've read, I'm stupid.
Yes, when you watch the motion as a small repeating gif, of course it looks like a salute. When I watch the actual video, and listen to him speaking, I do not think its a salute.
His child in the article is obviously not happy their father, even before this happened. Reading the article, its obvious their opinion is based on the trans issue, and because they disagree on the topic, then he must be a Nazi. Since they give no other reason for him being a Nazi, I don't think their opinion holds much validity.
He did it twice. With gusto. You're clearly struggling to reconcile that your idol is a Nazi and you've been wrong to worship him, or you're also a Nazi.
He is not my idol, I don't even care much for the guy.
Why go through the effort to defend what we clearly not one, but two nazi salute then?
It's very clearly a Nazi salute. There's no room to misinterpret that. You didn't even an argument beyond "I don't think so". No one cares what you think. We all saw him do a Nazi salute.
People being mad at you doesn't invalidate their opinion of you. That's the dumbest thing I've read all day.
If you don't care what I think, then why waste your time replying to me?
oh yes the "everyone that disagrees with me thinks im a nazi" comment, get over yourself, you know you are one. Also another saying if everyone is A B" around you, you most likely are. hence you are probably here because reddit banned you for the same reason you will be on most forums.
Get over yourself. I didn't even say "everyone thinks I'm a Nazi."
I said "Well, according all the comments here that I’ve read, I’m stupid." And I said that because plenty of the comments I was reading said that anyone thinking (what I said I think) is stupid.
And no, I've never had a reddit account. Not sure what your problem is.
The way you avoid saying "daughter" and "her" makes it clear that you don't understand her or her opinion.
Also, it was a Nazi salute. The first time I saw it, I was watching the actual video and not a GIF. He wants deniability so people who don't like Nazis will be gaslit and people that do like Nazis will praise him.
I avoided calling them anything other than his child because I don't know anything about his kids or that situation.
The title says daughter. How else would you have known she's "his child"? You are still going out of your way to say "them" now. Elon has many children, but this article is specifically about his daughter's statements, not his other children.
If you aren't going to bother to be specific or accurate, why post at all? Are you posting your disingenuous comments in an attempt to unconditionally defend Musk, or are you just a troll? I'm just asking questions.
I can see that the trans issue is a touchy subject for you, but that's not what I'm discussing here. So please don't take offense.
It’s incredibly bizarre that there are people in the world defending this shit.
It’s even more incredibly bizarre that anyone could actually look at that video and see anything other than a fucking nazi salute.
People like you are why this world is turning to absolute shit. Just another cog in the wheel.
I'm not defending it, because that's not what I think it was, and that's all I've said about it.
Why do so many of you here have such a hard time with just understanding that it is possible that other people can see something a different way?
It doesn't matter how you see it. Your perspective is irrelevant to the truth.
But it is not a truth yet. Maybe it was, but its still possible it wasn't. All I can say is that time will tell.
You may not be aware, but Nazis (both traditional and the neo variant) love dog whistles.
Obscure and hidden symbolism is core to their ideologies.
Nazis (and most hate groups in general) love doing things that are just innocent enough, but with a wink or a nudge, demonstrate clear intention.
It's quite easy to not do a nazi salute and when public speaking, politicians (and people who practice their public speaking skills in general) have traditionally been coached on what features may be construed as, just look at the traditional 'non-threatening' two finger point.
Finally, I don't think it really matters what it technically was or wasn't, what matters is perception and reception.
Edit: I want to add some concrete examples of nazi dog whistling and symbolism.
Historically the numbers 88 have been used by neo Nazis to represent HH (8th letter of the alphabet) as a disguised way to say 'heil Hitler'
The numbers on their own don't mean anything, but given additional context, behaviors, or related ideals, then an additional meaning can be found.
This is often used as an intentional way to inform sympathizers to your position that you are on their side (for example a group at a political gathering) without overtly communicating your position to those opposed.
Another example is skinheads (not sharps) wearing and lacing their boots in a certain way with specific color laces.
Hitler himself was immensely into the occult and found hidden symbolism to be very powerful, it's part of why he repurposed so much religious iconography.
Yeah, I understand that. And I've spent some time online talking with neo Nazis, and I know how they act. I just don't think he actually is. Conservative, yeah, but not a Nazi.
Does it really matter if he's deliberately advancing a fascist agenda?
Yeah, because if he's indeed a nazi, he's pretty incompetent at converting people into nazism. Some politicians such as Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have done a hand gesture that resembles the nazi salute in their political rallies, but nobody at the time screamed they were dog whistling nazi symbology. Raising one's hand to salute the audience is just a natural gesture, not some intricate gesture that's exclusive to a bonafide nazi apologist.
Lol, no they haven't, and if you have a hard time seeing a chest pounding and sharp arm raising as a Nazi salute but buy a frozen frame of a wave as potentially equivalent you're deep into the conservative media ecosystem looking for a reason to excuse him.
It's not a hand wave, it's a frame-perfect Nazi salute with the beginning middle and end. There's nothing he could have done to make it more accurate a Nazi salute other than speaking German at the time.
https://gifyu.com/image/bzsAP
What I see is Elon haters clinging to this salute as if it's the one silver bullet that will somehow make him lose Trump's or the Republicans' support. But their insistence on this is like preaching to the choir, as right-wingers simply don't care—some even like Elon more for being gutsy.
If that's all they've got on Elon, then he's sure to keep his job at DOGE. And Trump is laughing all the way to the bank, as the anti-Elon sentiment shields him from criticism, as social media's attention is mostly spent on Elon instead of Trump.
Nazi symbolism is "gutsy". God Elon-stans are such fucking losers.
Sorry, English is not my first language. What I meant is that some may see him as wacky and irreverent.
It's very easy to find an image of a politician, or anyone really in the public eye, doing what appears to be a Nazi salute. Pretty much any gesture that starts with the hand below shoulder level to above head level may well briefly transition between those two that could result in an image that appears to be a Nazi salute from one angle or another. It's much harder to find video that closely mimics actual videos of Adolf Hitler doing a Nazii salute, even harder to see it happen twice just moments apart.
You've either drank the Kool aid too or you're not paying attention if you think that's the only reason people think he's a Nazi
Watching the original video it absolutely looks like it even alone without Hitler right beside it. It did the first time and it has every time ever since that. I watched it live and immediately said, "what the fuck"
Maybe you wanted to see it? I don't know if you did but if you already thought he was a Nazi, then of course you'd see it.
Nobody "gives their heart out" like this unless they're a Nazi giving it up for Hitler.
People will see what they want to see. Even if Elon discovered the cure to all types of cancer, people would still nitpick anything about him to justify their hate.
Nah, elons actions and behaviors are justification plenty.
Is it really nit picking when he, a nazi is dismantling the us government?
People voted for this "dismantling". If you ask, Trump voters seem pretty satisfied on this regard.
So it's not nit picking. Thanks.
No person in their right mind would make such a gesture, especially not speaking in front of millions. It was not a 100% clear Hitlergruß. To me it seems pretty obvious that it was an intentional move to further divide the US population into people claiming he did a Nazi salute and those brushing it off as a random gesture, ridiculing the other side. Ragebaiting by doing a 99% nazi salute is not much better than doing an actual one.
How come its mostly people who behave exactly like nazis who 'accidentally' make very similar gestures to nazi salutes? I wonder...
What if he just made a motion, and it happened to look like that, even though it was not intentional? Watching the video, that's how I see it. I think he just got caught up in the moment, and made a gesture of thanks, not trying to look like anything.
You sure are spending a lot of time on your apologia.
Sometimes, like Nazi salutes- actions are much louder than words.
He did it again, just a second later.
Also, a 'gesture of thanks' usually doesnt involve tensing up your whole body and stretching your right arm with the palm facing downwards. This is as unnatural of a gesture as it gets.
He bent his whole body to give a salute. It was quite off-center and awkward, not really like the nazi salute as seen on historical videos of Hitler, which is a much more deliberate and aligned hand motion in relation to the body. If Elon time traveled to Hitler rallies and did this salute, he'd be reprimanded for doing it all wrong.
Yep, I just can't buy that its legit.
When your defense is, "Actual Nazis would say you need to work on your Nazi salute if you want to do it right," you need to realize you're also saying, "Actual Nazis would recognize this as a poorly done Nazi salute." And him being an unfit, physically inept fuck doesn't make it less of a Nazi salute, no more than my hour of playing tennis doesn't make my attempt at a backhand swing any less of a backhand swing just because Serena Williams would fall on her ass laughing if she saw me do it.
Ah yes. When people ask if Im a nazi and I tell them "no, my nazi salute is too weak" they immediately understand.
Then he would have disavowed it and apologized for it immediately. You don't accidentally Heil Hitler and then just pretend it didn't happen.
so he's a fucking idiot is your excuse?
You are right. Most neo Nazis will only make that nazi give heart out to hitler gesture only when caught up in the moment. when they lose control, their true nature is revealed, and they will even do it 2 or more times.
Cmon, guy. You know the truth, deep down. Well maybe not that far down