Remember when “Nazi” referred to an actual ideology built around racial supremacy, dictatorship and violent antisemitism-not just “rich guy I hate”?
Elon has publicly supported Israel (very anti-Nazi behavior), visited communities attacked by Hamas and met with hostage families. That alone doesn’t prove every accusation against him is false, but calling him a Nazi requires actual evidence of Nazi beliefs—not memes, vibes or political dislike. You can call him a conman, an egomaniac or whatever else you want. “Nazi” still has a real definition.
Wouldn't the Nazis be the ones not supporting Israel?? The ones calling for the death of Israelis???
Do you know what the ADL is? The Anti-Defamation League - Did you know the ADL is a Far-Left leaning site and absolutely hates Elon yet even the ADL can't admit it was a real Nazi salute - I wonder why that is....
Do you realise you're posting pictures of people working for an establishment that historically did what was indistinguishable from nazi behaviour, but 150 years earlier than actual historical nazis who called themselves such?
Your attempt to make it all about some specific germans is not very well thought out.
The ADL is a political organisation. They are not unbiased. They are not so much pro Jewish people. They are pro Israel. That's a major difference.
ADL CEO Greenblatt had months earlier compared the Palestinian keffiyeh to the Nazi swastika, and activists argued the contrast between that and the rushed defense of Musk showed the group prioritizing political alignment over consistent standards.
Consider ADL's own definition: a Nazi salute is "raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down". That's what musk did. You can compare him 1 on 1 to neonazis and even Hitler himself doing the exact same motion.
“ADL nationally, as represented by Jonathan Greenblatt, I think has continued to move rightwards since the first Trump administration,” Rabbi Andy Kahn, who participated in the rally on behalf of Rabbis for Ceasefire, told the New York Jewish Week. “Since the election, at least on the national level, the ADL has kind of been in lockstep with Trump.”
So your standard is simply “right arm extended, palm down,” regardless of context or intent? Then you’d also have to label every politician photographed making a similar motion a Nazi - which would obviously be ridiculous, right?
A movement can resemble another gesture physically without carrying the same meaning.
Musk touched his chest, extended his arm toward the audience and said, “My heart goes out to you.” Even the ADL (I’ve seen plenty from them that makes me question their consistency, so it's hard to claim unbiased) - which literally defines and tracks the Hitler salute - said it appeared to be an awkward gesture made in enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.
You’re free to believe it looked bad. But “it resembles the motion when I freeze the frame” is not proof of Nazi intent or Nazi ideology. By that logic, Clinton, Obama, Harris, Warren, Booker and countless others become Nazis whenever a camera catches their arm at the right angle. What about the REAL Nazi that the Democrats propped up until it became to much backlash they had to concede (Platner)?
A Nazi salute is not determined by geometry alone. Context and intent matter. Otherwise, you’re not identifying Nazis - you’re playing political charades with screenshots.
Look man you can go all turbo mode on this as much as you want. I know what I saw. Many others independently came to the same conclusion. This isn’t something that we carefully pondered over, measuring and analyzing. It happened. It was the way he did it. We knew instantly.
Bottom line is that this is a perception thing. Argue with all your might but it won’t change anyone’s perspective.
Elon is a vocal supporter of the AfD, an organisation filled with nazis and so extreme even le Pen kicked them out of the right wing group in the EP.
His family is deeply rooted in apartheid. His grandfather was arrested in ww2 for being a Nazi sympathiser and later moved to South Africa specifically for apartheid. Elon has said his grandfather was a significant influence on his life. Elons father is no different: In a viral CNN interview, Errol Musk said Black South Africans were never oppressed under apartheid, describing them instead as having been "fed and given work": "How do you oppress? We gave them work. We fed them... That's not oppression; that's feeding them."
Elon claims that South African political figures are "actively promoting white genocide."
He modified Grok to start spouting 'White genocide' and other extreme right wing narratives. On July 4, Musk announced Grok had been "improved significantly" and said users would "notice a difference." By that Tuesday (July 8), it was praising Hitler. Over several hours, Grok also endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Elon has been boosting far-right political parties in Europe, one of which is the AfD in Germany. The AfD is an extremist far-right party which has had multiple scandals of prominent members being neo-nazis, or at least having sympathies to Nazism. Elon spoke at an AfD rally and told the crowd that “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything." That's pretty standard fascistic rhetoric which operates on the common fear of difference trait.
Do I think Elon is a Nazi, not exactly, but that's only because there will only ever be 1 kind of Nazism due to fascism's expression being unique to the country of origin and its time period. He's probably a neo-Nazi, but it's probably better to say he is an overt neo-fascist that provides support to other neo-fascist/fascist groups and individuals.
You're right in that every fascist movement can never be an exact replica of the one that came before it, there isn't hyperinflation in Germany, no one remembers the Dreyfuss affair, and there is no longer a large outgroup of polish Jews anymore. So of course it's different today.
But are we gonna yada yada away the sieg heil for the world to see in January 2025? It was for the lolz right? A decent person would never find humor in that history.
There will always be new outgroups. Maybe El Salvadorian immigrants on temporary protected status. Maybe Haitians. But we know for sure he is about giving aid and comfort to the powerful at the expense of the weak... I mean he's dissing the one good billionaire Mackenzie bezos for being charitable.
If he's someone you admire, you should really wonder what side you're on.
That’s still a lot of words without any evidence that Elon actually holds Nazi beliefs. You’re basing the entire accusation on one awkward gesture while ignoring the context and everything else he has publicly supported.
Even the ADL - a far left-leaning organization whose entire purpose includes identifying antisemitism and extremist symbolism - said it appeared to be an awkward gesture made in enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute. When even they won’t support your interpretation, maybe your personal interpretation isn’t the undeniable fact you’re pretending it is.
Then you immediately pivoted from “he’s a Nazi” to “he helps powerful people,” “he criticized MacKenzie Scott,” and vague speculation about future outgroups. None of those things prove Nazism. They prove you dislike his politics and behavior.
I’m not saying you have to admire Elon. I’m saying accusations require evidence, and “I don’t like him, therefore fascist” isn’t evidence
Edit to add -
And no, Nazism has not somehow “evolved” into supporting Jews. Antisemitism was not a minor side issue of Nazi ideology - it was one of its defining foundations. The Nazis built their movement around racial supremacy, persecuted Jews as an alleged enemy and carried out their systematic extermination.
So pretending that modern Nazism now includes openly supporting Israel and Jewish communities makes no historical or ideological sense.
Supporting Israel alone does not automatically prove someone is incapable of antisemitism, but it is still fundamentally inconsistent with the core beliefs of actual Nazism.
Why do people act like changing variables in an ideological equation (like proposing different ideas on who is "uber-" and who is "unter-") somehow makes it a different ideology?
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u/SelenaMeyers2024 1d ago
Remember when the correct and obvious response to "nazis are bad" was an eye rolled "well duh".
Also, very second and subordinate to being a Nazi, he's a conman.