No, Elon Musk didn't make a fascist salute

We’re not even 24 hours into the second Donald Trump term and already there’s a ‘New Nazis’ panic. Only this time it’s not The Donald who’s being branded Hitler 2.0. It’s his billionaire pal and state-slashing tsar, Elon Musk.

At yesterday’s wacky inauguration, a giddy Musk gave a speech during which he saluted the crowd. I’ll be honest – it was a weird salute. He slapped his right hand against his chest and then threw his right arm upwards, diagonally and with vigour. He did it twice. His facial expression was an odd blend of love and anger.

Within seconds, X – the platform he owns – was awash with Nazi chatter. ‘He’s Sieg Heiling!’, people cried. The Guardian says Musk did ‘back-to-back fascist salutes’. It furnished us with the official definition of a Nazi salute – ‘raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down’ – so that we would know just what evil Elon was up to.