If you’ve been fortunate enough to not hear or read about American politics lately, congratulations. For the rest of us, it has been quite a mess for some time,
After donating $277 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign, Musk was then hired to run a new department of the US government, the Department of Government Efficiency. And so he has been close to Trump throughout the 2024 US election and since, also appearing at his inauguration parade.
It was at the parade when Musk made his controversial salute, slapping his chest and then pointing his arm outwards and upwards, similarly to the Nazi salute that has been banned in several countries throughout the world after the Holocaust. He made the gesture twice, and then said “my heart goes out to you” to the audience.
Musk has come under fire for the gesture, with many across the world condemning his actions. The billionaire used images of other politicians making similar moves with their arms to compare it to his own, and this is what set off Kick streamer TrainwrecksTV.
In a clip from his Jan. 22 stream, Trainwreck spoke out against using the “out of context” images to defend himself.
“His using that to defend what he did shows that he has become the very fake news that he has claimed he’s fighting against,” the streamer said. “He just used four out-of-context images that are still images to say that the liberal side is doing what he has done, and calling them fake news for it by not reporting that, but none of those are actual real, legitimate pictures. That’s what’s fucked up about it.”
Musk paid $44 billion to purchase Twitter and rename it X, with the acquisition going through Oct. 27, 2022. He has said repeatedly he wants it to be a beacon of free speech, while also combating spam accounts and introducing new features like the ability to purchase verification. Previously, verification was applied for through Twitter itself.
“Like, that’s an issue,” Train continued. “You were supposed to be the arbiter of truth, right? Like, it doesn’t make sense. He’s using out-of-context photos to say that it’s just big news media blowing—I don’t know, bro, that really gave me a very dystopian, weird feeling about the entire Trump/Elon administration now.”
Musk has since doubled down further repeatedly about the gesture, further comparing it to other politicians doing similar moves with their arms, including French president Emmanuel Macron and Taylor Swift (in an image that fact-checking site Snopes says was altered).
“It was astonishing how insanely hard legacy media tried to cancel me for saying ‘my heart goes out to you’ and moving my hand from my heart to the audience,” he said in reference to Macron. “In the end, this deception will just be another nail in the coffin of legacy media.”
Fellow streamer Asmongold has defended Musk’s “salute” and opinions about the gesture have been coming in from across the internet. Many think it was a clear dog whistle to rile up neo-Nazis and white supremacists, while others say it was simply a wave in a moment of excitement or blamed the gesture on the fact that Musk is autistic.
Thus far, even under intense scrutiny, Musk has not denied that he is a Nazi or was doing a Nazi-like salute. Instead, he has posted several memes about it on his Twitter/X timeline.
