Elon Musk’s Nazi-like salutes and Meta’s “technical error” usher in Trump’s Far-Right “new world order”. Rosemary Sorensen reports.
IT’S NOT JUST the gesture, the thumping of the chest followed by the straight arm flung out with the stiff palm down. It’s the grimace, the downturned mouth, the set jaw and blazing eyes.
When the vision came of Elon Musk decorating his speech at a post-inauguration rally with a Seig Heil – hail victory – shock was the first response.
Did the richest man in the world, who recently showed support for Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) Far-Right party, actually use the Nazi salute at a Donald Trump celebratory rally? Or, as some of the hasty reports in the mainstream media – including the ABC – quickly claimed, was this “questionable arm gesture” merely a mistake, in the excitement of the moment — “awkward” but not signifying a fascist intent?
The American Zionist group, Anti-Defamation League, posted on X, tagging Elon Musk:
It seems @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute…
In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath.
Musician activist Billy Bragg posted on Bluesky in response:
‘For the past 18 months, the Anti-Defamation League has been calling out people who criticise Israel, accusing them of antisemitism. Yet they’re willing to give Elon Musk the benefit of the doubt over his Nazi salute. That’s not a “bit of grace”, that’s a revealing double standard.’
Musk, who uses the platform he owns, X, to tweet abuse against criticism, has sneered but not quite denied it was a Seig Heil gesture, but the hordes of supporters have jumped in to do it for him. Trump’s nominee ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik, said Musk just “loves to cheer” and added, “No. Elon Musk did not do those salutes… that is simply not the case”.
Australia’s Sky News got on the front foot, with a report that said ‘media outlets’ including The Guardian Australia and the BBC ‘have been blasted for wrongly accusing billionaire Elon Musk of making Nazi salutes’. That report pulled out images of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden waving, to say that “people” are suggesting that the action was the same.
(Screenshot via Sky News)
As this was playing out on both social and mainstream media sites, users were reporting that searches for #democrat were (temporarily) being “hidden” by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram, bringing up the message:
‘Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content.’
(Screenshots via Instagram)
Meta claimed it was a technical error.
And Trump, surrounded by the cheer squad of tech-oligarchs – one straight-arming like a Nazi, the other fiddling the algorithms to hide the opposition just for fun – delivered a speech about sunshine and a new world order:
The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.
Meanwhile, George Orwell turns in his grave and we’re reminded of his dystopian novel, 1984:
‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’
Rosemary Sorensen is an IA columnist, journalist and founder of the Bendigo Writers Festival. You can follow Rosemary on Twitter/X @sorensen_rose.
Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.
Related Articles
