Persistent Pattern of Nazi Non-Denials

Elon Musk’s latest appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast yet again reveals the continuation of a troubling pattern – persistent refusal to directly deny making a Nazi salute. In case you’ve been under a rock, here’s the Nazi salute in video:

And here is the same as an image:

A new Rogan episode revisits this Hitler salute and engages in the same rhetorical strategies of deflection, wordplay, and reframing that characterized Musk’s earlier responses.

Let’s examine the very exact words used in the February 28 Joe Rogan Experience podcast:

• “I did not see it coming,” the tech billionaire said, putting “not” and “see” together to sound like “Nazi,” of the reaction to the move he made, which was likened to a Nazi salute.
• “People will Goebbels anything down,” referring to German Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
• “It was obviously meant in the most positive spirit possible. Hopefully people will realize I’m not a Nazi.”
• “What is bad about Nazis, it wasn’t their fashion sense or their mannerisms, it was the war and genocide is the bad part. Not the mannerisms and their dress code.”

Security Analysis of Rhetoric

These statements follow the same playbook we identified previously on this blog for national security professionals:

1. Wordplay instead of denial – Rather than a simple “I did not make a Nazi salute,” he creates a pun (“not see” sounding like “Nazi”). This allows him to acknowledge the controversy without addressing the substance.
2. References to Nazi figures – His “Goebbels anything down” comment deliberately invokes Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, continuing the pattern of Nazi references found in his earlier “jokes” about Nazi leaders.
3. Minimizing Nazi symbolism – Most troublingly, he explicitly argues that Nazi “mannerisms” (like salutes) aren’t inherently problematic – only their “war and genocide” were bad. This dangerous logic separates Nazi symbols from Nazi ideology, effectively normalizing the former.
4. Framing himself as misunderstood – His claim that the gesture was “meant in the most positive spirit possible” attempts to reframe criticism as a misunderstanding of his intentions rather than addressing the gesture itself.

The Telling Pattern

The progression remains consistent with the tactics of Nazism that we’ve observed before:

1. Make a controversial gesture resembling a Nazi salute
2. Refuse to directly deny it
3. Use wordplay and “jokes” referencing Nazi figures
4. Attack critics or frame them as misunderstanding his intentions
5. Minimize the significance of Nazi symbolism

Most importantly, at no point does he simply state: “I did not make a Nazi salute.” That’s it. He hasn’t done it.

This consistent refusal to deny speaks volumes.

Why This Matters

As we noted previously, this pattern of behavior is how extremism becomes normalized – not outright endorsement, but through strategic non-denials and the separation of symbols from their history. Someone saying a racist phrase, then going on podcasts to say they aren’t a racist, is a tactical method of saying racist phrases without being held accountable.

When someone with Musk’s vast influence and platform continues this pattern, he is using his bully pulpit to clear the space for even more extremist rhetoric to move from the margins into mainstream discourse. It’s a land and expand plan for Nazism to take over American political discourse.

His latest statements don’t represent a break from his earlier behavior – they represent its continuation and escalation. The progression from non-denial to wordplay to minimization of Nazi symbolism follows the exact pattern we’ve warned about.

In a healthy democratic society, the appropriate response to being accused of making a Nazi salute would be a clear, unambiguous rejection of both the action and the ideology. Instead, we continue to see linguistic games, deflection, and minimization of Nazi symbols – all without a very simple denial.

This is how it happens. This is how it continues to happen.