I’m probably one of the few people here who isn’t emotionally invested in this. I don’t hate Musk, though I don’t particularly like him either. I’ve often defended him against false accusations (like the Starlink incident), but in this case, there’s nothing to defend. I’d give it about a 5% chance that he genuinely didn’t intend it as a Nazi salute. After all, I’m not a mind reader - I can’t possibly know what he was thinking and unlike the haters, I don’t pretend to know either. I have no dog in this fight.

This “my heart goes out to you” salute isn’t a thing. It’s not something Musk has done before, nor is it a trend among anyone else. All the excuses about how he supposedly meant something else come across exactly as they sound: excuses. I’ve also seen picture montages circulating on social media showing Democratic leaders appearing to make the same gesture, but when you look at the full context, it’s clear these were just unfortunately timed photos. In Musk’s case, it looks like a Nazi salute even in full context.

Now, one reason I give this a slim 5% chance of not being intentional is simply that doing something like this while the entire world is watching is so spectacularly stupid that it’s hard to imagine even Musk not realizing this. He may be edgy and definitely on the spectrum, but that’s not an excuse here. Even a 5-year-old would know better.