{"id":13531,"date":"2025-02-03T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/?p=13531"},"modified":"2025-02-02T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T20:27:09","slug":"elon-musks-far-right-german-party-event-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2025\/02\/03\/elon-musks-far-right-german-party-event-appearance\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk&#8217;s Far-Right German Party Event Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Allison Bennett<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Staff Writer<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"ose-gettyimages ose-uid-65b2105b45114282acd8198e1a33edfa ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:723px; height:623px; max-height:623px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\" data-embed-type=\"GettyImages\"><a id=\"IXtWGlrFSWNgmmL0pDHPJQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2195220807\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:\"IXtWGlrFSWNgmmL0pDHPJQ\",sig:\"BI83YiX9xmqy_BcijDjuKgcDCChZ-cvSM9Pq6OgDaM8=\",w:\"594px\",h:\"396px\",items:\"2195220807\",caption: false ,tld:\"com\",is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async><\/script><\/div>\n\t\t\t<script>\n\t\t\t\tif (typeof gie === 'function') {\n\t\t\t\t\tgie(function(){\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvar iframe = document.querySelector('.ose-embedpress-responsive iframe');\n\t\t\t\t\t\tif(iframe && !iframe.getAttribute('title')){\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tiframe.setAttribute('title', '')\n\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t});\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During United States President Donald Trump&#8217;s inaugural ceremony, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk slapped his right hand on his chest before shooting his arm diagonally upwards, palm facing down, twice during his speech. Musk\u2019s actions have sparked heavy debate, with observers arguing over how to interpret the action, many believing the arm movement appeared to be a Nazi salute.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/01\/23\/nx-s1-5269719\/elon-musk-salute-inauguration-day-nazis\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NPR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> quotes U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler, D-NY, saying on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter,\u00a0 which is owned by Musk, \u201cI never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal.\u201d Several Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, called out Musk, condemning his actions and asking for a clarification or apology for the gesture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Germany, gestures like the one Musk made are illegal, along with other symbols and slogans from the Nazi era, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/24\/world\/europe\/elon-musk-roman-salute-nazi.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New York Times<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reports. Following his actions, anti-Musk protestors projected an image of his salute with the words \u201cHeil Tesla\u201d onto the Telsa factory in Germany. German newspaper <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeit.de\/kultur\/2025-01\/elon-musk-hitlergruss-amtseinfuehrung-donald-trump\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Die Zeit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> writes, \u201cThere is no need to make this unnecessarily complicated. Anyone who raises their arm in a swinging and diagonal manner several times during a political speech in front of a partly right-wing extremist audience is doing the Hitler salute.\u201d Present at the inauguration were several far-right politicians from Germany, Italy, France, and Britain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, others challenge the Nazi interpretation of Musk\u2019s actions, including the Anti-Defamation League, which calls itself a global leader in combating antisemitism and countering extremism. The organization posted on X, \u201cIt seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.\u201d Musk himself made comments on X saying, \u201cDon\u2019t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down,\u201d referencing the names of prominent German Nazis. Musk continued with his tweets in an attempt to turn the controversy into a joke, though never specifically denying the Nazism allegations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Five days after the inauguration and two days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Musk made a surprise appearance over a video call during Germany\u2019s Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party campaign. The AfDis a far right and populist party that is Eurosceptic, particularly opposing Muslim immigration into Germany and has been classified by the German judiciary as a \u201csuspected extremist\u201d party.\u00a0 During his appearance, Reuters quotes Musk saying that in Germany, \u201cThere is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.\u201d The New York Times calls this \u201can apparent effort to wipe away the long shadow of the Nazis that has influences generations of Germans to quarantine extreme political parties from public life.\u201d These comments came two days before official ceremonies in Poland that commemorate the 80<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, one of the most significant days of memorial on the German calendar. Many critics in Germany have sharply criticized Musk\u2019s words and their timing. In Musk\u2019s support for the AfD, critics have claimed that he brushed aside years of \u201cflirtations with Nazism\u201d and other actions by Afd members that have led Germany\u2019s mainstream political parties to unite in opposition against the organization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Image courtesy of <em>Getty Images<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During United States President Donald Trump&#8217;s inaugural ceremony, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk slapped his right hand on his chest before shooting his arm diagonally upwards, palm facing down, twice during his speech. Musk\u2019s actions have sparked heavy debate, with observers arguing over how to interpret the action, many believing the arm movement appeared to be a Nazi salute.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5778,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2845,382],"tags":[467,2448,2635,2861],"class_list":["post-13531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2845","category-international-news","tag-germany","tag-elon-musk","tag-x","tag-afd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Elon Musk&#039;s Far-Right German Party Event Appearance - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2025\/02\/03\/elon-musks-far-right-german-party-event-appearance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elon Musk&#039;s Far-Right German Party Event Appearance - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During United States President Donald Trump&#039;s inaugural ceremony, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk slapped his right hand on his chest before shooting his arm diagonally upwards, palm facing down, twice during his speech. 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