The MAGA world wasted no time finding an explanation for Elon Musk’s evocative hand gesture.
Musk quickly flung up his hand and after placing it over his heart at a post-inauguration rally, putting his arm at an angle that raised eyebrows across the world.
While many were quick to call the gesture a Nazi salute—or a Roman salute, which also has fascist connections—some conservative influencers have countered Musk is merely awkward and it was his way of showing his appreciation to Donald Trump supporters.
Collin Rugg, for example, posted to his 1.7 million X followers that CNN was wrong to question the gesture and call it an “odd-looking salute.” He agreed with a popular comment on his post that asserted Musk was “excited, awkward, not thinking about how he looks, and trying to show his heart going out to the crowd.”
The infamous “Libs of TikTok” account reached a similar conclusion.
“CNN is suggesting that Elon did a Nazi salute during his speech at the Capital One Arena,” the page posted. “He was literally motioning ‘my heart goes out to you.’ This is why no one trusts the fake media.”
In a follow-up post, Libs of TikTok quoted a PBS report that referred to the gesture as a “fascist salute.”
“PBS News, which is publicly funded, is spreading propaganda that Elon Musk made a ‘fascist salute’ during his speech at Capital One Arena,” the post said. “Their own video clearly shows that he was motioning ‘my heart goes out to you’ to the audience. DEFUND PBS.”
Musk told Trump supporters “my heart goes out to you” as he gestured the first time, but not when he turned around and repeated the arm movement a second time.
“Full context shows Elon was gesturing that his heart goes out to the crowd,” the “Media Lies” page on X posted. “They’re grasping at straws today.”
Mistake or not, the gesture has White Nationalists abuzz. Rolling Stone reports five of the country’s most notorious far-right figures—Christopher Hood, Christopher Pohlhaus, Thomas Sewell, Keith Woods, and Andrew Torba—have gleefully reshared the gesture.
“I don’t care if this was a mistake,” Polhaus posted. “I’m going to enjoy the tears over it.”
Musk has been on a posting frenzy since his rally speech but had not addressed speculation over the gesture as early Monday evening.
