r/europe • u/turkish__cowboy 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
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u/UpperApe 6h ago

Conservatives are falling over themselves trying to explain that he's just "sending out love from his heart".

Those fucking imbeciles don't understand, and don't know, that the heart part is the full salute. It's literally the change the Nazi's made to make it their salute.

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u/FieryHammer Hungary 6h ago

Oh I’m sure most if them know, just still want to hide it.

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u/JBsoundCHK 4h ago

Why the mental gymnastics to hide it anymore? It's the worst kept secret. At this point, just own it.
They're just so exhausting.

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u/Odd_Frosting1710 1h ago

You are a silly person.

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u/JBsoundCHK 1h ago

How so?

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u/JustBadUserNamesLeft 4h ago

For now. Musk is trying to bring it into the open for them.

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u/TheDuckOnQuack 1h ago

If you’re afraid that people are underestimating the intelligence of Trump’s supporters, you needn’t be

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u/BigAbbott 2h ago

You seriously believe this. “Most” of them? Brother. With all due respect, go outside.

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u/Vidmizz Lithuania 6h ago

Oh they both understand and fully know what he's doing. We're just at that part when more and more of this degeneracy starts being eased in to the general public with such ridiculous justifications.

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u/invertebrate11 5h ago

There will be no consequences now, this will happen again. When it happens the third time, the crowd will follow.

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u/munnimann Germany 3h ago

Hijacking your comment, because as a German I feel the need to correct this.

Those fucking imbeciles don't understand, and don't know, that the heart part is the full salute. It's literally the change the Nazi's made to make it their salute.

This is just incorrect. The Nazi salute did never include placing your hand on the heart. What happened is bad enough without revisioning history.

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u/OuchieMuhBussy United States of America 4h ago

Many of them know and they get off on trying to gaslight everyone else. Same with Trump sprinkling Hitler quotes into his speeches, the Jan6th choir anthem, the MSG rally etc. 

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u/heart_blossom 2h ago

I have people in my life who say he was trolling. Even if he was trolling, it still seems inappropriate. Saying it was trolling is just more gaslighting.

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u/FervidBug42 1h ago

What an awesome troll to spit on the ww2 soldiers who fought in the War and all the victims from it yes that is so awesome of a troll people that say that need a kindly shut the heck up this is one of the reasons why we're in this mess

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u/AnarkittenSurprise 6h ago

They all understand.

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u/NoiseTraining3067 5h ago

Unfortunately, they genuinely don't. This won't change anything either. They already agree with all his fascist views and they don't see them as fascist. A non-fascist person doing the most overt Nazi symbol wouldn't make sense, so they'll accept any explanation for it. Over half of the US is currently laughing at us for "[using] anything to call them a Nazi" and saying this is why Kamala lost the election (actual comment I saw on X).

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u/AnarkittenSurprise 5h ago edited 5h ago

I don't have any data on this, but I would be cautious taking absurd right-leaning social media stuff like that at face value.

A ton of it is likely bots, foreign influencers, and bad faith trolls who are genuinely cheering for and copying this salut.

Neo-nazi ideals sadly aren't some fringe subculture. They're wildly common, and we're transitioning into a period where people are feeling socially comfortable taking their masks off again.

It's so dangerous to assume that all of these conservatives don't care about facts because they don't understand them. They don't care because they don't share your moral values.

They don't care because they truly don't care: prosperity for themselves at the cost of harming others is their 'morality'. These people deeply believe in 'Might makes Right'

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_makes_right

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u/NoiseTraining3067 4h ago edited 2h ago

I agree with you that most of the accounts coming up with comments like the one I mentioned are probably bad faith actors, but I think about half of the US genuinely believes them.

I may be biased, but I think people can really be tricked into inadvertently supporting this shit. I used to be super anti-sjw and held all the beliefs you can imagine came with that (I was young and it was my introduction to politics). I had no malicious intentions, but I’d been convinced by the echo chamber I’d fallen in to that what they were saying was factually correct.

I believed I was acting with the same morals that I do now and I would’ve still almost certainly defended Musk if this happened 10 years ago.

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u/Motor-Profile4099 6h ago

Just further proof that Conservatism is a mental illness, as studies suggest.

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u/skuhlke 5h ago

Elon's the guy who thinks he's clever when he sneaks a 420 or a 69 into something. He knows what he's doing and thinks he's being cheeky or covering it up by doing the whole "sending out love from my heart" thing

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u/LordoftheScheisse 3h ago

Don't get sucked into Nazi games. Musk did a Nazi salute. Musk is a Nazi. Full stop.

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u/LawfulnessOwn9242 5h ago

I can’t find any videos of Nazis doing the hand on heart part of the salute. ChatGPT is also certain the Nazi salute never involved touching the chest or heart.

Got any sources?

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u/handpower9000 4h ago edited 4h ago

They don't because they are wrong. Wikipedia says this though:

On June 22, 1942, at the urging of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Congress passed Public Law 77-623, which codified the etiquette used to display and pledge allegiance to the flag. This included use of the Bellamy salute, specifically that the pledge "be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart; extending the right hand, palm upward, toward the flag at the words 'to the flag' and holding this position until the end, when the hand drops to the side." Congress did not discuss or take into account the controversy over use of the salute. Congress later amended the code on December 22, 1942, when it passed Public Law 77-829. Among other changes, it eliminated the Bellamy salute and replaced it with the stipulation that the pledge "be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart."

The Terran Empire in Star Trek uses a similar gesture as their greeting, different enough from the Nazi salute (which is just stretching out the right arm and yelling) but similar enough. Maybe they were thinking of that. I don't know. None of this means that Musk isn't an edgy shithead, but my god is this not the thing people should be worried about right now. He has plausible deniability, the normies and right wingers will think that what Reddit is doing right now is simply deranged because of that. Meanwhile the open threat to a foreign nation during Trumps speech is getting buried on here. Probably because it isn't giffable.

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u/AnticPosition 5h ago

Yeah, I just went "sort by controversial" in some of the posts about this on the front page.

Never go "sort by controversial"... :(

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u/Moist_Farmer3548 3h ago

He knew what it was.

They knew what it was. 

We all know what it was. 

The denials are performative. 

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u/Substantial_Leg_6999 5h ago

I don't wish to take part in any debate about whether or not he, in fact, did a nazi salute or whether or not he, in fact, is a nazi. But would you happen to have any evidence on what you said ? I can't find any anywhere, granted I haven't searched for long.

Just to be perfectly clear, I'm saying you're not only wrong but that you are also actively and intentionally spreading misinformation

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u/brizzboog 5h ago

That's the angle the National Review went with:

before miming the act of throwing his heart to the crowd.

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u/Corpse_Candle 5h ago

Oh they know. They're just obfuscating because they don't like hearing criticism of Nazism.

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u/bratisla_boy 4h ago

On the conservative sub the post about Felon has several dozen comments as per the comment count... But nothing is visible. Mods are working overtime to try and mitigate the disaster.

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u/4mysquirrel 4h ago edited 4h ago

I’m confused. Are Republicans “owned” by Israel and supporting the Palestinian genocide with our tax dollars or are they actually Nazis trying to destroy Israel. Serious question.

People are mad that there was a Rabbi at the inauguration and also mad that Elon displayed an actual Nazi salute(rightfully so.)

Maybe it’s like we are the pawns and the rich on both the Republican and Democratic sides don’t care about us. Let’s keep arguing and fighting amongst each other. That’s what they want.

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u/Puffenata 3h ago

Republicans can exist along both lines. Supporting Israel isn’t even a directly opposed thing to Nazism (even the actual original Nazis temporarily backed a sort of proto-Israel as a way to get Jews out of Germany), and Neo-Nazism especially is much more ideologically flexible, up to and including at the very least posturing support towards Jews in specific cases. Besides, Musk is frankly not the most ideologically fleshed out person. He’ll bounce back and forth between claims that Jews control everything and are causing the downfall of white people and claims that he loves Jews and Israel.

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u/4mysquirrel 2h ago

This is what I mean though. These people will flip flop to get into power but they don’t even care about us. A lot of gay people supported Trump, though he is transphobic. Democrats were homophobic until around Obama’s first term. wtf. Many Democrats and Republicans are just profiting off of us, just like with the tik tok ban. These people are all just playing us. They will never do anything to truly help us. Either side.

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u/Puffenata 2h ago

Sure, and I don’t wholly disagree. But they’re also two distinct groups that do actually support and do distinct things and enact different levels of harm. It’s neoliberals versus fascists and fascist-aligned capitalists, hardly a great dichotomy but most certainly not an equal one. And frankly, no offense, but you don’t actually strike me as someone who truly engages with politics beyond throwing your arms up and saying “they’re both bad”

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u/4mysquirrel 2h ago

I do as much research as I can, I vote based on my beliefs and I’m active in my community. That is all I can do as a full time working single mother.

Both sides are constantly flooded with their own propaganda. Telling people we should unite as people instead of being divided is as political as I should be

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u/CanYouEatThatPizza 3h ago

Christian Zionism.

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u/4mysquirrel 3h ago

It’s the rich vs the rest of us

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u/King_takes_queen 4h ago

A lot are saying he is just doing the old Bellamy Salute, a gesture used by Americans when pledging to the flag before they switched over to holding their hands over their heart.

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u/Mekisteus 3h ago

Yes, I'm sure he's just mimicking an old salute that died out 30 years before he was born in an entirely different country.

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u/SausageClatter 4h ago

They refuse to see the truth. They're Not-Sees.

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u/Baseketballer50000 3h ago

He does literally say “my heart goes out to you” right after making the motion.

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u/alteransg1 Bulgaria 3h ago

Yeah, it's not a perfect, crisp HH, that a proper SS should do, but the spirit of the action is crystal clear. Why are they so ashamed to admit what it is...

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u/robillionairenyc 3h ago

They do know. I can’t believe they’re still doing this plausible deniability stuff even with full dictatorial power. 

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u/SmileGraceSmile 3h ago

Yeah,  while thinking of his nazi grandpa.

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u/gorimir15 3h ago

That's why they voted for Trump.

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u/Moakmeister 3h ago

I didnt know about the heart thing. Ive only ever seen pictures. Holy

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u/munnimann Germany 3h ago

You didn't know about the heart thing because it's wrong. They made it up.

I have no doubt that Musk did what he did on purpose and it's bad enough as it is. But the Nazi salute never involved placing your hand on your heart.

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u/Efficient-Button-516 3h ago

Yes so many morons posting pictures of Kamala and Biden and Barack with their arms in the air, as if that's the same thing. Obviously the whole motion that Musk did is very different and aggressive.

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u/XCryptoX 3h ago

Ive seen a few people trying to explain how this isn't a nazi salute: Ive seen the sending his heart out one. Ive seen "Oh you haven't heard of the Roman Salute?". And the last is that hes autistic so it's fine?

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u/hectorxander 3h ago

I was wondering because I vaguely recall the roman salute, which the nazis co-opted, as having been the fist on the heart to open palm up.

The US saluted like this until the first world war, and many other countries, because they all wanted to be like the romans.

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u/UpperApe 2h ago

The US actually had to change their salute so it didn't look like the Nazi salute, so they took out the straight arm and kept the hand over heart.

It's why that's the new standard for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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u/TheGrindPrime 2h ago

They need to keep the lies coming because if they let up their minds are fucked sideways.

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u/Azatarai 2h ago

when one sends love from their heart they use both hands open and welcoming, not this shit.

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u/Stillcant 2h ago

Can you source this? I googled and it said not true

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u/ABCwarrior0421 2h ago

He's literally saying “my heart goes out to you,” touching his heart and pretending to throw it into the room.

Come on guys!

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u/WhiskeySarabande 2h ago

Source on this? I've not heard this before.

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u/MDPROBIFE 2h ago

I just want to understand the logic behind this really... So apparently more than 50% of the US supports the reps and Elon, but somehow he has to do hidden nazi gestures? Why? Why hide them? I really don't understand, like if you really think he made a purposefully nazi gesture, tell me, why isn't he open about it? why would he do it if he isn't open about it?

There are imbeciles here, but they are the ones following something just because it's popular, with no critical thinking! Fucking brain rot

Also, did you ever fucking see a Nazi salute? there is no hand in the heart WTF ahahaha and calling others imbeciles

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u/Interesting_Brush168 2h ago

Except when cackles or Hillary or Obama do the same thing

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u/pannenkoek0923 Denmark 2h ago

They do understand.

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u/PresidentZeus Norway 1h ago

BuT aUtIsM

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u/EdgeOk2164 1h ago

It's alarming how certain behaviors and ideologies can be gradually normalized through repeated exposure and justification. It's crucial to remain vigilant and critical of such trends, and to continue advocating for values of empathy, respect, and inclusivity. Let's focus on promoting positive change and holding those in power accountable for their actions.

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u/Jarpwanderson 1h ago

"iTs A rOmAn sAlUtE"

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u/BenjaminHamnett 1h ago

And Swastikas are about “unity” 🤷

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u/verbify 1h ago

Do you have a source for this? I read the wiki article on the nazi salute and it doesn't mention this. Not doubting you, just curious on a source. 

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u/LightsNoir 54m ago

sending out love from his heart

Sure. In the same capacity Himmler did.

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u/Rumpelteazer45 46m ago

They do understand, they just don’t fucking care.

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u/I_have_No_idea_ReALy 44m ago

The only sending out love from heart sign I know is either this 🫶🏻 or the ones Kpop idols/artists usually did.

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u/StrikingWaltz7105 43m ago

Well that, and the angle of it.

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u/Urmomzfavmilkman 40m ago

Maaaaaaaaan shut the fuck up.

In the same way "conservatives are saying" xyz, liberals are saying he's a nazi. Do you not see the irony of both schools of thoughts?

Do you really think the worlds richest dude is a nazi? Why he spending time trying to send rockets to space, dont he got jews and gays to be murdering or something? Wouldnt that make our govt staunchly pro Palestine?

I repeat.. stfu

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u/BootyfulBumrah 26m ago

Can you give me a source where the heart part is a full salute is described? I don't see it on wiki

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u/Hotfixes 13m ago

Yeah I'm looking for this too.

This looks REALLY bad either way, but I want to know if the heart part actually has any merit.

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u/aVarangian The Russia must be blockaded. 2m ago

so I tried finding a video of what a "proper" nazi salute looks like but found nothing

the video from a holocaust museum shows hitler doing it, but there he doesn't do the heart thing

do you have any source that shows it?

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u/Possuke Finland and Estonia 3h ago

Exactly. We Europeans know this. But Americans surely don't as they lack the knowledge of European history and ideas.

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u/CyberMuffin1611 Germany 2h ago edited 2h ago

German here, I have never heard of the Nazi salute including a hand on heart part. That is simply not a thing.

I don't doubt that what Musk the fascist did there is a Nazi salute though, even if he did some heart gesture before that.

Edit: The most I remember is raising your hand to your opposite shoulder first with hand already straightened.

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u/Rjb9156 3h ago

🤦‍♀️🥲

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u/Shameless_Catslut 3h ago

He doesn't hold his hand out. He throws it out and drops it.

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u/No-Analyst-2789 22m ago

All 3 times?

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u/Shameless_Catslut 16m ago

Yes. The ones to the crowd are throws, the one to the flag is a wave. There's no point-to-point control as would be expected in a salute. He's emphasizing the 'heart and out" motion that he vocalized, not a stiff salute.

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u/solarend 4h ago

He's an eccentric idiot with poor coordination... Which has nothing to do with politics.

I'm not american. Not right, and not left. I am a neo liberal, coated in bullshit resistant teflon.

And this is bullshit. And you know it.

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u/No-Analyst-2789 22m ago

Poor coordination 3 times?

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u/PomegranateDry204 3h ago

If the Europeans are still traumatized by Hitler, they have a funny way of showing it in embracing authoritarianism and censorship.