ANDREW MURRAY surveys a quaking continent whose leaders have no idea how to respond to an openly contemptuous United States
Error message
An error occurred while searching, try again later.When is a Nazi salute not a nazi salute? When Elon Musk does one
JOE GILL hazards a guess: Musk’s salute was a message to all of the world’s far-right legions: now is our time

ON BBC Newsnight the panel of journalists and politicians were discussing Elon Musk’s emphatic salute at Trump’s triumphal inauguration rally in Washington DC.
Probably most people have seen Musk’s Dr Strangelove moment by now but none of the panel would say what it most clearly was: a Nazi salute.
Musk did not just involuntarily raise his right arm and point his fingers to heaven. He slammed his right hand into his chest, paused for a long moment, and then thrust his arm upwards as tens of millions watched nationwide, and thousands of Trump supporters in the auditorium in Washington cheered.
More from this author

From their apartheid-era childhoods to Trump’s inner circle, billionaires Elon Musk and Peter Thiel bring a colonial ‘divide and rule’ mindset to the global far-right project, where the masses turn on each other, writes JOE GILL

The left must call out the fact that BlackRock and private billionaires have merged with the state apparatus as our leaders abandon any pretence of there being a ‘free market’ for direct and overt corporate control, writes JOE GILL

A Tory-lite Labour Party is clearly unpopular with the electorate who are desperate to see actual improvement to Britain’s decimated public services, writes JOE GILL

Last week’s Democratic National Convention showed Harris is offering more of the same war agenda as Biden, writes JOE GILL