During the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, gave a speech about what’s to come and said he wanted to “give his heart out” to the crowd in which he threw a salute. This salute sparked major controversy internationally. 

The reason this has been such an issue is that the solute was very reminiscent of the Nazi salute used by the fascist party during WW2. 

Many people across the internet have reacted in many ways, people who fall under the Democratic party have called out Musk for this action, asking him to speak up and clarify the situation, as many people are already concerned about the coming plans for the future. They don’t want their newly elected president and officials to be fond of the Nazi party. But on the opposite side, many people in the Republican party have defended Elon saying that he was only giving his heart out. 

The debate around this entire situation piqued my interest in knowing what people around me think, so I explored the school asking students and teachers for their thoughts. 

Junior Collin Stangl spoke about his thoughts. When sharing his thoughts on the overall issue, Stangl stated “I think he knew what he was doing, and the only way to go around this is to be like, ‘Hey. Immersed up. I shouldn’t have done it. I don’t support it.’” We then discussed his thoughts about the people online supporting and defending Musk and doing the same salute to which he had to say “I think they’re just rallying around a rich, super-rich guy that is now in office. I think even if it wasn’t Elon, but another random guy, they would still do it”. 

After this interview, I turned to the opinion of a political teacher, Jonathan Greider. He shared that “the debate around it is a weird debate and if we wanna know what it was, we should go to the source and ask the Germans how they’re covering it and whether or not they can show it. German law prevents them from showcasing Nazi actions, paraphernalia, and regalia in the media, so we should go and see if we can find him making that same gesture in German newspapers and magazines.” I then asked him what he thinks about the Roman Salute defense and if that is a real historical salute. His opinions on the matter were “the Romans didn’t have a salute, it was made up by victorian england so that the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar looked cooler.” We wrapped up the interview by discussing if Musk should come out and clarify. Greider only said “the actions spoke for themselves.”

The last interview I did was rather interesting to me as my interview was with juniors Blake Smith and Hayden Sinclair. Smith began by sharing “Well, I don’t think he meant to, but I do think that honestly the fact that people even think it’s like a possibility, it just kind of shows that he’s like a pretty wild dude…. but he’s just, he’s going really far, and he’s honestly a disgrace to the Republican Party.” He continued by saying, “I don’t think he’s like a great guy or anything, but I don’t think he meant to resemble a fascist either. I don’t think he meant to do the Nazi salute, and I don’t think he is a Nazi, but it was quite an unfortunate thing for him to do on his part.” 

Sinclair, on the other hand, spoke out of confusion about the situation. “What the heck are we doing guys? I feel like you’re supporting a certain fan base. Considering that most of the people that would support that ideology, voted for that person, that they voted for Trump. So when he says, ‘My heart goes out to you,’ and does those certain hand gestures, I don’t think it sits right with a lot of people, or, everybody. Why’d he do it? He not only did it once, he did it twice.”

When discussing what Elon should do next, Smith shared “Honestly, I don’t think it would really matter. I think it’s either just gonna die down, or he’s gonna say something and it’s gonna die down. I don’t think it matters too much. I have a feeling this will end up just kind of getting put under the rug and forgotten about honestly.” Sinclair agreed with Smith stating “like, Blake said, I think it will be swept under the rug. The question is, will it be swept under the rug, like, where we understand why he did it, or will it just be swept under the rug like when it’s brought up again, everyone would say ‘Yeah, this is how I remember it. This wasn’t nice or wasn’t good at all for anybody.”

Seeing that Smith and Sinclair had somewhat differing ideas I wanted to know how they would respond to each other so I asked them two questions. First was their thoughts on Neo Nazis supporting Elon after this salute and the responses were:

HS: I think that’s enough evidence for the salute.

BS: Do you think it was an accident?

HS: No, I don’t.

BS: Really? Wow.

HS: Like, that doesn’t sit right about how he deliberately did it, not once, but twice. You know what I’m saying?

BS: I don’t necessarily think how many times he did it matters. I think this really was just a poor decision on his part, and I think that it’s being looked into way too much. I don’t know if you guys know this, but do you guys know the point when Obama wore a beige suit, and then Republicans got angry?. This, this seems like that, but it’s more. But now it’s the Democrats [being angry] because both sides like to pick really small things. And, you know, this certainly wasn’t intentional, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t look bad. Neo Nazis’ ability to look upon common sense should make it clear that no matter what they think, it’s wrong. So to say that this is evidence that Musk said it wouldn’t work because their ideas already are wrong.

My next question was about their thoughts on Elon doing a different gesture another time to signal out he was giving his heart out. and they said this:

HS: See, that’s why, he knows what the proper gestures are to say, like, “my heart goes out to you,” and to give thanks to people. He knows what those proper gestures are and he should probably know that this isn’t one of them. This isn’t a proper gesture.

BS: I think that you’re doing the same things the Republicans are doing with the tan suit on Obama. You’re going too far into this. I think he made a mistake, and that this has just got to be something that we look past and we say, “All right, let’s move on.” You know, whatever his or Trump’s policies are, I am 100% certain that neither of them are Nazis.

Now, this interview allowed me to see somewhat conflicting ideas and sides come together and talk about it which helped me more understand and form my thoughts about this situation. I believe that there is no mistaking this gesture as anything but on purpose, the people have seen this man use different gestures to show him giving his heart out to people he knows and is capable of doing so many other gestures. So for him to sit there and think that one was the right choice to make is just absurd. 

Also, Elon has had plenty of time to respond to this still hot topic, but hasn’t done so. Instead of coming out and telling the people flat out why he did what he did, he has left it up to speculation. Why would someone want to do that considering what they’re being accused of? With also the hateful groups that are coming out to support him, why would he not want to come out and clarify even more about not wanting to be associated with them and those were not the intent of his actions? He could have and still can do so much but instead of doing those actions he keeps raising more speculation. 

Using some of what my interviewees have suggested, it has, even more, firmed my idea he knows what he did was on purpose. Using what Grieder points out, what the Germans think about this situation. The citizens of Germany have stated that “the actions speak for themselves,” criticized him and are very worried about his political intent ever since. This country, as Greider stated, is the source, they have been through this they have seen the signs and know where it leads and are trying to tell the American people so it does not repeat. 

The defenses people are coming out with to me at least are backed up with fallacies, the main defense of the Roman Salute is just not true, there is no historical backing to a Roman Salute ever being that the only salutes there have been are the right hand raised to their forehead, or a simple handshake. The origin of the Roman salute being used to defend Musk originated from a painting by Jacques-Louis David called Oath of the Horatii, Before that painting there has been no real historical proof of that salute being real, making it a logical fallacy. 

I believe the most logical thing he can do as of right now is for him to come out and explain, it would be better for the population of the entire world to know his true intent. Without knowing, all the world is left to do is speculate, and that can cause major issues as seen with the Germans already having their cautions in their trust with the American government. It will ease the minds of the American people so they don’t think their government officials are fascist or Nazi supporters. The American people would like to know whether or not we are just looking too far into things and we can relax just a bit. Musk speaking out will help with trust between the people and government, which is what we need than more separation. So if he can come out and say what he meant, or just simply apologize for what he did I think it will be a lot better than whatever situation this is causing.