Elon Musk responds to accusations he made Nazi salute at Trump inauguration – National

Elon Musk has responded to allegations that he performed a Nazi salute at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, dismissing it as “dirty tricks” by critics, but not outwardly denying the accusations.

The world’s richest man and close ally of Trump, tasked with running the president’s new “Department of Government Efficiency,” sparked outrage and an avalanche of online backlash when he took the stage to speak at Monday’s inauguration and made the one-armed gesture not once, but twice.

He thanked the crowd for “making it happen,” before slamming his right hand onto his chest and then thrusting it out into the air straight ahead. He then turned around and did the same action for those sitting behind the stage.

“My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured,” he said, after throwing his arm forward the second time.

Masha Pearl, the executive director of the Blue Card, a foundation that supports Holocaust survivors, told the New York Times that she was “deeply troubled” by Musk’s gesture, calling it a “a Nazi salute.”

“Elon Musk has been engaged with antisemitic incidents in the past. Because of that, it was an unmistakable symbol of hate, of violence, of genocide.”

Claire Aubin, a historian who specializes in Nazism within the United States, said Musk’s gesture was a “sieg heil,” or Nazi salute.

“My professional opinion is that you’re all right, you should believe your eyes,” she posted on X, writing to those calling the gesture a reference to Nazism.

Later that day, Musk dismissed the criticism in a post…