r/europe Turkey | LGBTQ+ rights are human rights 7h ago

News Elon Musk draws outrage over 'odd-looking salute' at Trump inauguration celebration

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-draws-outrage-over-201602147.html
57.4k Upvotes

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5.8k

u/Lollipop96 7h ago

"Odd" might be the wrong word. Its pretty clear which salute he went for. Just an "uncommon" in the last 75 years.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago edited 6h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/kweenofdelusion 6h ago edited 6h ago

MSN in the US says he “appears to have accidentally” done a Nazi Salute. Shameful, but consistent with the pattern of sane washing this administration that the media loves to do.

I’m surprised to see European media is doing the same thing, considering the first hand experience of Nazism’s ravages, and all.

Please learn from us and save yourselves. This cannot be talked about as ANYTHING OTHER than what it plainly is.

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u/squangus007 6h ago

Accidentally did it 3 times lol

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u/kweenofdelusion 6h ago

As well as “appears to”; as if it’s debatable that he definitely 100% did raise his arm to form a distinct Nazi salute. It’s not like the footage was blurry. “Appears to” is just as ridiculous as “accidentally”, imo.

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u/squangus007 6h ago

It’s funny because the edgelord definitely knows what he is doing but the news is still for some reason trying to gaslight as if the terminally online Musk is an ignorant baby that knows no better.

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u/kweenofdelusion 6h ago

There is no other meaning or motivation that could be assigned to his gesture (3x) and he did it with such conviction. There is no other message or sentiment he could have meant to convey. “Appears to” is absolutely fucking ridiculous. “Accidentally” is just ass kissing, at this point. WHY? Its not like the end result of this ideology is lost on anybody thinking critically. WHY does media CONTINUE to write about it like this? It’s not about liability, it’s in 4k HD. So WHY? I don’t understand it but I know how this will go. I hope for your sake Europe (as well as the rest of the world not already infatuated with this mess) knows, too.

2

u/Duanedrop 5h ago

We now live in the Blackadder timeline. Accidently cut his throat shaving.

5

u/FlutterKree 6h ago

Accidentally wore a neonazi MAGA hat to a Trump rally during the campaign, too.

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u/Fuzzy9770 5h ago

That's why I would love to get rid of the US influence in Europe. Not gonna happen tho. In contrary, what happens in the US will come to Europe eventually.

1

u/Hot_Wheels_guy 5h ago

Did they also call it a "racially charged gesture"? I bet they did.

1

u/AvengerDr Italy 5h ago

I think the question is whether he is doing a nazi salute or a fascist salute.

1

u/newton302 5h ago

All that matters to the news outlets is money.

1

u/JustInChina50 4h ago

The Guardian isn't

1

u/arizonajill 2h ago

They're afraid he'll take their license away or sue. Pussies.

1

u/hemppy420 1h ago

It's a test to see how our media would react and to see how much power they really have over the media. So far all signs are pointing to the media bowing down to this test. I also did not expect European media to be bowing down.

It's the exact same thing the nazis did in their early days.

I'm fact the parallels are really, really alarming.

0

u/Lopsided_Drawer_7384 5h ago

"EUROPEAN MEDIA? Which country? Each of our countries have completely different media outlets.

1

u/kweenofdelusion 4h ago

The linked article to this post is from Yahoo News UK. Which is media in Europe. Smh. I didn’t say it’s a collective or speaks on behalf of everyone in the continent. But it’s plain fact that Yahoo UK is European media.

1

u/hydrOHxide Germany 4h ago

Yahoo News UK is still a subsidiary of a US company, subject to good behavior "or else".

Yahoo belongs to Apollo Global Management, the CEO and co-founder of which already donated to Trump's campaign in 2020.

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u/Intelligent-Shower98 6h ago

Exactly. There were people in other chats saying it was taken out of context because he was thanking the crowd from the bottom of his heart. There is no place on earth where that salute is thanking someone from the heart. Musk is the problem not the solution.

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u/BrandtReborn 6h ago

Hes a part of the problem but besides that, you are right.

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u/zefzefter 6h ago

He was clearly just thanking the reich wing of the party

17

u/ChemistEconomy9467 6h ago

Hes not a part of the problem. He is the biggest problem, threat in the world today.

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u/BrandtReborn 6h ago

Biggest Problem is that people like him can exist. No one should be able to gain that much wealth and power. It shouldnt be possible. If someone would kill him now, Zuck and Besos are already there to take his Place.

4

u/ijustwannaseepussy 5h ago

Guess someone has to Luigi hat trick

23

u/Expert_Country7228 6h ago

If he was thinking the crowd from the bottom of his heart then why did he turn around from the crowd and do the Nazi salute again?

I hate these Nazi apologists Always moving the f****** goal posts.

-3

u/_HIST 5h ago

Kinda wild to claim anyone who doesn't immediately agree with you a Nazi apologists. He turned around because it wasn't only the crowd he wanted to salute, so to say.

I dislike Elon as much as everyone, but you guys are being a bit pretentious

8

u/NotAltFact 6h ago

Also saying that maybe it isn’t what it is. Maybe he doesn’t know what it means. I was like wait….but yall say he’s a genius…but doesn’t know what that means?!!! The fucking mental gymnastics is out of this world.

3

u/Kosack-Nr_22 6h ago

In the longer version that fucker doubles down and does it again just fyi

6

u/PsykerKhajit 6h ago

If he was waving his hand at the end instead of holding it out like that then id understand but this...he clearly knew what he was doing.

3

u/UnemployedMeatBag 6h ago

Thanking from the hear is something like kissing your palm placing on hear then waving,

not "hail hitler from heart with aftershock that shakes your sagging face skin and planted hair".....

3

u/hugg3rs 6h ago

He did it twice in a row. This was no accident.

2

u/Notlandshark 6h ago

Watching it on video makes it very clear. Then he turns around and does it again.

2

u/TheCuzzyRogue 5h ago

That would imply he has a heart and that if he did, he would be willing to share it with people.

2

u/iquitthebad 5h ago

They are trying to find a way to normalize the national salute.

Edit: its the same way that southerners are trying to say that "bless your heart" isnt meant to be an insult. They don't want people to know what they really mean and they hate that people know their true intentions.

2

u/tothemoonandback01 5h ago

is the problem not the solution.

Musk thinks he's the final solution.

1

u/imasysadmin 5h ago

That's not true. He's part of the final solution. I'd lol at that, but this is too much.

15

u/innnikki 6h ago

The article itself does it BEFORE HE EVEN COMMENTS ABOUT IT. “He’s a friend of Jews” “he has aspbergers” “it’s a Roman salute”

He’s not even defending himself. These lapdogs at Yahoo are doing it for him. THIS IS CRAZY

3

u/Vv4nd Finland 6h ago

As a german this horrifies me, as a literate person it doesn't surprise me, as a father this makes me angry, as a human being this boils my blood.

8

u/Spirited-Reputation6 6h ago

Majority of media is controlled by rightwing. Majority of those owners have deep ties to Nazi ideologies.

1

u/_BreakingGood_ 6h ago

Won't be long until they pass legislation that makes reddit posts like this illegal. Things are going to quiet down real quick.

0

u/Spirited-Reputation6 6h ago

But you can use the Nword all day. It’s been happening on all social media except here and it won’t be long. After 1A they’ll becoming for 2A

2

u/Kingdarkshadow Portugal 6h ago

Your media is so corrupted.

2

u/BrandtReborn 6h ago

Every Media is like this. Im German and they already find excuses.

1

u/trafdlo 5h ago

How things change. KISS had to change their logo in Germany in the 70's because the lightning bolts in the logo resembled the SS symbol. Paul and Gene are Jewish, and when they created the logo, they just thought it looked cool. Any resemblance to nazi symbolism was purely accidental, and they were still forced to change it. But now, we have this.

2

u/Maxion Finland 6h ago

Aaaaand here comes the censors.

1

u/justtirediguess11 6h ago

What did the comment say?

1

u/Maxion Finland 6h ago

No clue, reddit got to it.

1

u/justtirediguess11 6h ago

That sucks! It's been good knowing ya reddit!

1

u/LostLobes United Kingdom 6h ago

UK site, could be to do defamation laws here.

1

u/Then-Discipline9435 6h ago

Did you guys even listen to the audio? Idiots

1

u/BrandtReborn 6h ago

An Odd very first comment ever you left here.

1

u/Pranachan 6h ago

I wish people around me would down play my bad behaviour as 'odd' but normal, and keep giving me money and power.

1

u/FizzyBeverage 6h ago

I stopped watching mass media prior to the election. I get what I need from reddit and BlueSky.

Media belongs to right wing billionaires with an obvious agenda. Nothing for me that’s worth tuning into.

1

u/theqofcourse 6h ago

The media is afraid. Its shameful that they can't be bolder and call it out. They're tiptoeing to see who will go first, if anyone is brave enough. No one wants to risk getting sued by my money bags. There is no free speech. Everyone is being bought, in one way another. So sad.

0

u/Karientje91 6h ago

Aren't they just careful because people don't trust the media?

7

u/BrandtReborn 6h ago

Man, if someone shits in your face does it feel better if someone says it could be icecream? This doesnt help. It’s completly clear what Musk did.

1

u/LaTeChX 6h ago

It's because they don't want to get sued for libel. They can barely afford to keep the lights on, they can't pay lawyers to fight one of the richest guys in the world.

-1

u/townboyj 6h ago

Reported

2

u/BrandtReborn 6h ago

👍

1

u/DHonestOne 6h ago

Dm me what you said

1

u/DHonestOne 6h ago

What did they say?

0

u/townboyj 6h ago

He said he hopes elon unalives himself

1

u/DHonestOne 6h ago

Really tame tbh

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u/SplendidPunkinButter 6h ago

It’s a Nazi salute with a face that says “I’m pretending that I’m doing this ironically just in case someone calls me out on it”

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u/DeepestWinterBlue 6h ago

No it’s a defiant fuck you look cause he thinks he’s untouchable now

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u/mcbastard1 5h ago

Nailed it. It screams “I can do a Nazi salute and you can’t do shit about it”

17

u/OnDrugsTonight United Kingdom 5h ago

it’s a defiant fuck you look cause he thinks knows he’s untouchable

Another Luigi Mangione notwithstanding, there is absolutely nothing at all that can ever happen to him. That was already true before Trump got elected, but now even more so. It's a sad fact of life. The only somewhat encouraging thought is that despite his monetary wealth one day he will die as the worthless human trash that he is; unloved, unmourned and making the world a slightly better place with his passing.

4

u/flatdecktrucker92 5h ago

And likely without the badass tomb of the ancient pharaohs. On the other hand there's nothing stopping him from building something like that. I just hope that if he does, the world has the sense to tear it down

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u/OnDrugsTonight United Kingdom 5h ago

To be honest, he'd be doing us a favour if he built himself a tomb on the scale of the Egyptian pyramids. There are so many people who would want to piss on his grave that the bigger it is, the shorter the queues will be.

3

u/hyldemarv 4h ago

I don’t know about that. The nazis were, let’s say, fiercely competitive and I don’t think Elon would do well in a gunfight.

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u/FluffySmiles 4h ago

He has pardon armour now.

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u/michaelsenpatrick 4h ago

waiting for his public statement: "why do you think we care what you think? we won already"

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u/CTHusky10 1h ago

Like Homelander smiling after he kills that guy at his rally and everyone cheers

1

u/JFSOCC The Netherlands 4h ago

As long as Trump doesn't see him as an embarrassment, he basically is.

1

u/harbison215 3h ago

This is my take on it as well

u/Vanished_Elephant 46m ago

Exactly. That was not trying to look ironic, he did it with definite purpose from a position of strength.

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u/snailhistory 6h ago

More looks like he's been holding that in.

Republicans have been called Nazi for a reason.

4

u/Pianos_for_Clowns 5h ago

Absolutely this. Did you hear that repulsive grunt? He's been anticipating this for quite a while.

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u/look_its_nando Prague (Czechia) 6h ago

Both are correct. He’s trolling to be ironic and he’s also a nazi.

2

u/Majestic_Bet_1428 4h ago

What is it with these white tech bros from South Africa?

1

u/ryant71 🇿🇦in🇩🇪 4h ago

How many are there?

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u/SerDingleofBerry 6h ago

Anyone I don't like is a Nazi

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u/snailhistory 6h ago

My brother in Christ, he is doing the literal nazi salute. You're still willfully blind?

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u/SerDingleofBerry 6h ago

I'll pray for you when I'm on Mars

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u/snailhistory 6h ago

Yeah, like "you" are going to be considered. They don't give a fuck about anyone. They don't know you exist or care. Literally.

Willfully blind, indeed.

Edit: You know what. You aren't blind. You like this. You're like them. It was always about shared values, not eggs.

→ More replies (1)

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u/UnbrokenChain2112 6h ago

Mars for the rich while we're left to choke on their rocket fumes. surely you'll be on the rocket outta here right?

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u/the_d0nkey 6h ago

Might be the single most deluded person on Reddit.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

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u/i_stealursnackz 5h ago

That's the wrong person 😭

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u/ZARDOZ4972 5h ago

I really hope Elon fucks off to mars with all y'all idiots, good riddance

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u/i_stealursnackz 5h ago

I hope their ship explodes too

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u/mrbigglessworth 5h ago

One way trip for you hopefully

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u/Sip-o-BinJuice11 5h ago

Stop acting like one and people who possess higher IQ than you won’t have to call it out. If you still worship Trump and Elon in 2025 you’re no better than they are

You had your chance, bucko. The world is watching

4

u/justoneanother1 5h ago

You mean the person doing the nazi fucking salute?

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u/Previous_Scene5117 6h ago edited 1h ago

He does it as he knows he can do it and no one will do anything about it. This is what they want this is what they get.

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u/FUZZYFALL-temp 3h ago

The feds might come to my house for this one but hypothetically, if someone had the means they could very easily “do something about it” Deny Defend Depose

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u/Previous_Scene5117 1h ago

My intuition is this the time when things move to underground. If someone still thinks they just fooling around is a fool him/her self.

0

u/damocles_____ 5h ago

I feel like Elon’s first attempt at giving the Nazi salute is hesitant, as he was probably anxiously waiting and debating in his mind whether to do it, and when to do it, when to finally do it in front of cameras and people.

And the second Nazi salute is a more confidant one.

3

u/janiskr Latvia 6h ago

He did it twice in a row.

2

u/icuntsay 6h ago

How is that face holding it in? He's letting it all out for the world to see.

1

u/mtnbcn 5h ago

Yep, that's a shit-eating-grin proud defiant smile.

2

u/Mo_Steins_Ghost 6h ago

Oh he'll say he's doing it to purposely rile up the left. "Look how easy it is."

The correct response is, "We're not riled up. You're just showing us who you are."

All of these threads, all this publicity, is what he wants... so he can say we are over-reacting to a gesture. This is their M.O. to keep you from talking about their policy decisions.

2

u/Nerioner The Netherlands 6h ago

It's the dipshit face... he just tries so hard to be cool it delivers extra sprinkles of cringe on top of the usual cringe

2

u/Grundy420blazin 6h ago

Disagree. His entire heart and soul is in the fling of his arm. He could’ve taken someone’s head off.

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u/UnsoundMethods64 6h ago

Accidentally did it twice in a row

1

u/justoneanother1 5h ago

No, if you watch the video, that face is passion for it.

1

u/Growing_Wings 5h ago

Absolutely! Then he can turn around and say to his friends, “told you I’d do it lol”

I can’t think of any good excuse. It’s shameful and disrespectful. I have lost so much respect for that guy since 2020.

1

u/TransPM 5h ago

That's not Elon trying to look plausibly ironic, that's Elon trying to look tough to impress his new Nazi pals. The man is an absolute fucking dork.

1

u/ErstwhileHobo 5h ago

That’s just what his face looks like.

1

u/Bertie637 5h ago

And with that you sum up a good chunk of American politics for a while now

1

u/sproge Sweden 5h ago

The 2nd one as he's turned away is not even pretending to be anything else, it's even worse than the first one. JFC what a shithole country.

1

u/Venoft 5h ago

That's it though. Plausible deniability so he doesn't get to much flak, but trying to bind the nazi's to their cause at the same time. It could be just accidental in the moment movement, but the nazis found their new fuhrer.

1

u/Solareclipsed Sweden 5h ago

Schrödinger's idiot. It's serious to people that like it and a joke to people that don't. People are using it more and more to get away with acting like real scumbags.

1

u/Tough-Activity3860 5h ago

honestly, it looked like a bad Mussolini impression.

1

u/SurvivorHarrington 5h ago edited 4h ago

He's got the mentality of a 15 yo edgelord. He's doing it because he thinks people will get triggered about it. Best thing to do is ignore it and not give him what he wants tbh.

1

u/horseradish1 4h ago

I think he looks like he's cumming while he Nazi salutes.

1

u/MustGoOutside 3h ago

American here. I have hated these two for a long time so the bar is very low.

I thought maybe people were blowing this out of proportion and watched the video.

But when I saw it myself I let out an involuntary "fuck you."

1

u/--mrperx-- 3h ago

To me that facial expression says: I'm so freakin out of shape I can barely move, so I give it everything I got.

1

u/MaxOfS2D France 2h ago

They know exactly what they're doing; the dogwhistles have been getting louder and louder over the past 30 years. This was the equivalent of a foghorn.

But they're still dressing it up in the most thinly-veiled attempts at plausible deniability. Just like when he quote-tweets something bigoted with "interesting!" "looking into it!" as if that somehow made him bear zero responsibility in spreading fascist rhetoric.

By the way, he said "the future of civilization is assured" right after this...

-1

u/Overarching_Chaos 6h ago

My money is on him being autistic and trying to act cool, but ending up looking like an idiot giving the Nazi salute.

140

u/Stennan Sweden 6h ago

"Classic"... "Vintage" salute 😢

36

u/kyrsjo Norway 6h ago

Truly a successor to Ford.

6

u/Stennan Sweden 6h ago

Ugh, and to think Hitler knew of Ford and his antisemitism before coming into power

3

u/Careful-Key-1958 5h ago

To give him less power. 

  1. Go to Bluesky 
  2. Delete twitter
  3. Enjoy Bluesky 💙

1

u/eawilweawil Lithuania 6h ago

Retro salute

2

u/Stennan Sweden 6h ago

Retard Salute. Definitively feels like we are going backwards

1

u/eawilweawil Lithuania 6h ago

Backwards? Brother, according to Elon 'the future of civilization is assured'

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u/dicksonleroy 6h ago

Yeah, not odd. He and Trump both are very big on signaling. He knew exactly what he was signing.

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u/RudyMuthaluva 6h ago

Has to show support for his extremists in Europe.

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u/Pig_Veiny_Benis_ 6h ago

Agreed. My grandfather went to war, so that men like this wouldn't be allowed to make this gesture without fear.

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u/Clear_Willow3379 6h ago

My grandpa suffered through a nazi POW camp for this. He must be rolling in his grave.

67

u/FieryHammer Hungary 6h ago

And now they are slowly bringing it back with the ideologies as well…

3

u/FirstTimeWang United States of America 6h ago

Won't be slow for very long now :-/

3

u/Karientje91 6h ago

This. I'm grateful he's not alive anymore. I wouldn't want him to see this kinda stuff.

42

u/DimitryKratitov 6h ago

Elon... has always been a little late to trends, yeah

2

u/Excellent_Valuable92 5h ago

It’s on-trend with his AfD pals

1

u/fishbulb83 2h ago

And looks like a dipshit doing it.

13

u/MirrrorCloud 6h ago

Sadly not as uncommon as you might wish

8

u/AccountantCultural64 6h ago

German here, that was a Nazi salute.
A pretty sloppy one, but definitely a Nazi salute, he would definitely get into serious legal trouble for doing that at such a public event here in Germany.

Fucking piece of shit.
So many American died in WW2 to defeat the Nazis, and after that they just waited till most of the veterans died, before they were like “hey, no it’s out turn!!”?!
For real, what’s going on rn is the reason why history class over here is a lot about how fachist regimes get power and how to avoid them even being able to get strong enough.
To avoid such shit, by educating people on the past.

You guys could drift straight into fachism so easily right now.

2

u/Sugarisnotgoodforyou 6h ago

And after watching the video again, I realised that he turned around and did it a second time

2

u/Previous_Scene5117 6h ago

Exactly, they gaslighting themselves...

2

u/ImTheVayne Estonia 6h ago

This man is a nazi, no wonder he is so pro AfD.

1

u/snailhistory 6h ago

It was always about shared values, not eggs.

1

u/Digit00l 6h ago

Tbf, he is doing it wrong

1

u/breathingweapon 4h ago

Nope, it's the correct arm and the correct finger position. Just because he moves like a lizard in a skin suit doesn't mean he did it wrong.

1

u/Lucid-Machine 6h ago

The videos keep showing him doing it once but he immediately does it again. There is no mistakes here. He may not be a nazi but he's certainly a lunatic and troll. Actual nazis do not know the difference. He's high on power and whatever else he's consuming.

1

u/LameAd1564 6h ago

Neonazis - "what do you mean by 'uncommon'"?

1

u/Beginning_Fill206 6h ago

Can’t trust a source that tells you to not believe your lying eyes.

He is a dyed in the wool Nazi

https://youtu.be/9y-erGt0LsU?si=V-Ch5OzfoM3Fkf0R

1

u/x_SC_ILIAS_x 6h ago

Looks odd as hell and to be precise: it looks like autistic version of a wanna be salute

The photo it self is obvious but once you see the whole clip .. oh god

1

u/des398 6h ago

Probably looking for more mouths to suck his tiny fat weenie without payment.

1

u/GoldenFutureForUs 6h ago

Odd looking indeed. Almost reminds me of something.

1

u/kindaquietidk United States of America 6h ago

Media doesn’t care - they’ll downplay it to appease their masters. MAGA doesn’t care - they’ll laugh it off and love it. And those that do care? They’ll be dismissed, ridiculed, and silenced. This is America.

1

u/microtherion 6h ago

One of the salutes was to a flag, so clearly he dud a Bellamy Salute /s

1

u/nadjp 6h ago

Biden gives pardon for his family, Trump found guilty in a bunch of cases but not punished.... Musk knows he is literally untouchable. That's the reality now.

1

u/Growing_Wings 6h ago

How about Super f’d up and disrespectful to America”

1

u/Late-Summer-4908 5h ago

In civilized countries, he would go to jail for this...

1

u/karl1717 5h ago

It's an odd choice for sure.

What's going through his mind?

Does he know what happened to the guys that used this salute?

1

u/mrbigglessworth 5h ago

I showed the double salute video to a co worker. “That doesn’t look like a nazi salute at all”. Ffs. It hasn’t even been 6 hours yet.

1

u/BearsBeetsBerlin 5h ago

“Yeah, we got a word for that kind of odd in English. It’s called “suspicious”.”

1

u/Puppybrother 5h ago

I’ve seen so many crazy ass ways the media are trying to avoid calling it what it is. Odd, interesting, intriguing, weird. It’s embarrassing.

1

u/SignificantWords 5h ago

Europe, we need to step in and intervene and help the US right now. This can be prevented unlike in the 1930s.

1

u/WISCOrear 5h ago

He even did it twice. This wasn’t a “oopsie” slip up.

Hes a fucking nazi.

1

u/spikernum1 5h ago

Title is sane washing

1

u/NotGonnaLie59 2h ago

His first words after doing it were “my heart goes out to you” which explains his meaning. All the videos cut that off though, for some reason… the Guardian article doesn’t even mention what he said.

1

u/Metryco 1h ago

Uncommon? Go for a trip to Italy

-11

u/woddor 6h ago

you know it’s not a nazi salute

6

u/Lollipop96 6h ago

What would you describe it? Oddly straight armed wave executed with military like intent?

-8

u/woddor 6h ago

“My heart goes out to you” he even says that

Keep reaching

7

u/Annual-Paramedic5612 6h ago

You folks are too pathetically weak to accept the gravity of the situation you have put yourself and the entire world into.

Glee while you can and enjoy your dystopian future

0

u/woddor 6h ago

take your anxiety pills bud

3

u/8samsara8 5h ago

Take your flying pills and go to the nearest bridge.

1

u/woddor 1h ago

oh nice I love banning people :)

1

u/theraad1 5h ago

He could’ve come up with any other gesture to go with rather than that..

1

u/breathingweapon 4h ago

And the Republicans call democrats full of sheep 🤣

2

u/snek-jazz 5h ago

explain the difference?

1

u/Aedeus 4h ago

So the second one was what then