Elon Musk is insisting we do Nazi salute discourse again

We’re only three days into 2026, and we’re already back on the Nazi salute discourse. This time, Elon Musk is upset because no one accused Zohran Mamdani of sieg heiling for attention. The problem is that the two gestures look radically dissimilar when played side by side:

They are all lying propagandists https://t.co/eaj5iZ2aUj

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2026

The Turd Reich

In the video of Musk, he holds his hand to his chest, and then he vigorously throws his arm straight out – you know – like the Nazis did.

In the video of Mamdani, he holds his hand up to his chest, and then he casually raises his arm upwards before doing a little wave – you know – like the Nazis did not.

They lie https://t.co/b8bzJukcO5

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2026

It’s not the first time the right have tried to make the Mamdani comparison:

I don’t know how to explain to people how these are so clearly different

Like; the videos are side by side here and you can see how Elon’s is a deliberate Nazi salute and Zohran’s is a gentle wave https://t.co/R3sgJM511n

— Mike 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@SpideyInTARDIS) November 8, 2025

It’s not incorrect to say that the two gestures have some similarities, but come on; anyone with a functioning brain can see these are not the same.

Given that Elon Musk might literally not have a functioning brain, it’s probably not surprising that he keeps coming back to this. It’s also presumably why he keeps sharing Nazi-grade race science:

Elon Musk has been retweeting prominent race scientist adherents on his platform X, spreading misinformation about racial minorities’ intelligence and physiology to his audience of 176.3 million followers. https://t.co/FIeJ3NAYJA

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) September 1, 2024

He also shares white supremacist talking points like the ‘great replacement’ theory:

Elon Musk is Schrodinger’s Nazi. He exists in a superposition of pretending to not be a Nazi, and acting exactly like a Nazi. pic.twitter.com/xplplaeA32

— Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@jimstewartson) January 2, 2026

Not a Nazi, though.

Firstly @elonmusk – Zorhan's clearly isn't a nazi salute; yours is.

But secondly, and most importantly, the reason people think you are a nazi is not because of the Nazi salute, it's because of all the ultra right wing nationalistic Nazi stuff that you do on a daily basis. pic.twitter.com/mKKx5lKbOO

— Harry Eccles (@Heccles94) January 2, 2026

Sieg fail from Elon Musk

As we’ve highlighted before, while Musk’s gesture did not look identical to Mamdani’s, it did look identical to what Nazis do:

I don't think we can share the side-by-side of Elon Musk doing the Nazi salute next to Nazis doing the Nazi salute enough. pic.twitter.com/2TpcUDPWwf

— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) January 22, 2025

Well, sort of identical.

We are of course accounting for Elon Musk’s natural awkwardness, which means everything he does looks like an abnormal version of what he’s imitating

Featured image via Al Jazeera