The billionaire Elon Musk, head of Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, made repeated gestures resembling Nazi salutes while giving a speech at the Capital One arena in Washington.
The Tesla and X owner, a close ally of the President, greeted the audience at the Capitol One Arena, where Trump is due to arrive to view an inaugural parade later today.
“This is what victory feels like,” he said.
“And this was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilisation. There are elections that come and go. Some elections are important, some are not, but this one really mattered and I just want to say thank you for making it happen.”
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty)After closing his remarks, Musk held his hand to his chest, then extended his arm upwards with an open palm facing down.
He then turned around and made the same gesture to the crowd behind him.
CNN host Kasie Hunt said the salute was “evocative of things that we have seen throughout history,” noting that Musk had lent his support to Germany’s far-right AFD party.
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-20T19:58:05.706ZSome viewers on Musk’s platform, X, claimed that Musk was doing a “Roman salute,” although commentators across social media were quick to point out that this was a gesture first adopted by the Italian fascist leader Mussolini and then Hitler and Nazi Germany.
“‘It was a Roman salute’ is an updated version of ‘actually, the Buddhists also used swastikas’,” the Washington Post columnist Philip Bump wrote on BlueSky. “If you are using it post-1945, you know very well that the association has changed.”
In Germany, Nazi salutes of any kind, written, verbal or even straight-extending the right arm as a saluting gesture, are punishable by up to three years in prison.
This is a breaking story and is being updated.
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