So Musk did a gesture that was likely a Nazi salute. It could’ve also have just been some other type of salute from another country known for genocide. Much like Ukrainian soldiers have been spotted using “resignified” fascist symbols. And honestly, this is always the least damning and easier to backtrack evidence that somebody or some organisation might be similar to the fascists of the thirties.
It doesn’t matter if billionaires or politicians maintain prisons for non-citizens on the border, employ immigrant-catching police, uphold laws for hyperexploitation of minority ethnicities at home or use military force to subordinate countries abroad, or even fund the fucking genocide of the Palestinian people.
The only smoking gun these “commentators” have on whether Trump or Musk (or even Bolsonaro or the Azov battalion) might be like the fascists of the 30’s is if they replicate (consciously or not) their aesthetics with motorcades, rallies, salutes and swastikas. Otherwise, who can really know?
(Yes, I understand that using those symbols is making their ideological roots explicit, and giving cover and legimaticy to groups that never really went away. My point is not to minimise it, but that a billion articles will be written about “Did Musk do a Fascist Salue?” rather than the much more necessary “is Musk a fascist?”)
Something about the online reaction to this rubbed me the wrong way, so genuinely thank you for clarifying my own feelings to myself. All these liberals love to feign shock and outrage over melon’s juvenile antics and insist that copmala, the other pro-genocide candidate, would have been a superior choice because this specific behavior wouldn’t happen at her inauguration. They’re mad that the eye of the storm is a little gustier than it’s supposed to be.
Side note, internet boy’s HH moment was so goofy and stilted and awkward… I wonder if someone tripled-dog dared him to do that or if he just got a little too giggly or hesitant when the time finally came. It was kind of cringe.