It would be nice if we could exchange views on this without posters getting instantly jumped on as Nazi sympathisers if they express any doubts. This kind of binary thinking is partly why the orange bellend got voted into power in the first place.
Not being absolutely certain doesn't mean you support Trump or his new lapdog, Musk.
I have watched the video countless times now. I'm still undecided what the actual fuck Musk was doing, tbh.
If you watch the extended video which involves Musk walking onto stage just before the weird salute, you can see he's really pumped up. He does this strange dance with double fist pumps. It's bloody odd - even for Musk.
Worth mentioning that I'm autistic/ADHD and I often gesture wildly and enthusiastically. Admittedly I've never done anything resembling a Nazi salute. But I find it hard to work out what I'm doing with my limbs sometimes, especially my arms - I have so many bruises from walking into things, and I regularly fling things across the room by mistake when I'm talking. So an awkward gesture isn't out of the question - especially if you see how weirdly wired he is with the strange dancing literally just before the salute.
I think that it's just about feasible that he might have been attempting an impassioned "from my heart to yours" or similar type of gesture.
I also hear him say something like "thank you from my heart" or words to that effect, which backs up assertions that it's just an oddly awkward gesture.
When he makes the salute he makes a strange grunting sound - which again, suggests that it was some kind of impassioned gesture to symbolise sending out his emotions/thanks etc.
And yet.....
The things that make me question this though is the strangely flat palm. No pointing to the audience, or sweeping motion. The flat downward palm is a strange one - especially as we all know exactly what this symbolises. It's not really associated with anything else and surely it would instantly bring to mind a Nazi salute?
When I've made a weird accidental gesture, I'm acutely aware of what I've done instantly and how awkward I've been - the last thing I'd do is repeat it!! But Musk did it a second time.
And more importantly, we know that Musk is a fanboy of the far right and has expressed admiration for extreme right wing views. He also comes from a childhood of apartheid South Africa.
So that would suggest that maybe it WAS deliberate?
But then again, he's cut out the weird salute from the video on his own posts on Twitter. If he'd done a double Nazi salute, that's pretty blatant, why wouldn't he be sharing it? He's not one to shy away from criticism.
But then he's not denied it in his post either? Surely you'd be out there denying any likeness to make it clear that it's not a Nazi salute?
Trump is such a corrupt individual with no interest beyond what benefits him, and utterly despicable views in many areas. Musk is willing to align himself with those views and has showed sympathy for a move even further to the right. That makes it really hard to give them the benefit of the doubt and to be scrupulously fair - but I am trying.
I can't honestly be sure either way. And that's the fairest thing I can say. I think you could make an honest argument for either interpretation.
I don't know if I'm naive, overthinking this, or just making it too complicated? I'm not persuaded that is definitely IS a Nazi salute but I'm also not persuaded that it isn't, especially given what we know about Musk's background and views.
What I do know is that the combination of Trump and Musk is dangerous and right now, I worry what's going to happen. Voting Trump in was a horrible, horrible move and that's been compounded by his new close bromance with Musk.
This clip here shows the dancing, just in case you haven't seen this bit of the Musk performance: