Not Denying Because Endorsing:
Dangerous Elon Musk is Dangerous
When video emerged of Elon Musk giving a Nazi salute at a political rally, his response was telling: He never denied it.
Never denied this, not even once. When falsely accused of making an obvious Nazi salute, most people’s immediate response would be “I absolutely did not do that.” Instead, Musk’s response was to spin it into a “dirty tricks campaign” that never actually denies doing it.
Think about these tactics carefully. He didn’t say “I didn’t give a Nazi salute.” He didn’t say “That’s not what happened.” He certainly didn’t say “I stand opposed to racism and hate.” He attacked people daring to point out his Nazi salute, claiming he wants “better dirty tricks” from them.
This is straight from the Nazi propaganda playbook portraying their targets as dishonest and manipulative. When Hitler was tried for the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, he didn’t deny trying to overthrow the government. Instead, he turned his trial into a platform to attack his accusers, claiming they were the threat to Germany instead of him.
Musk is playing an even more dangerous game. By dismissing Nazi comparisons as “sooo tired” while never denying his apparent Nazi salute, he’s sending a clear message: being called a Nazi is worse than actually behaving like one.
Notice another sleight of hand: he complains about ‘the everyone is Hitler attack’ – but nobody said ‘everyone.’ They said Musk, specifically, made a Nazi salute. By pretending this is about ‘everyone’ being called Hitler, he’s creating a straw man to discredit his critics while still never denying what he actually did. It’s deflection through exaggeration – make the accusation sound ridiculous by pretending it’s broader than it is.
This is how extremism gets normalized – not through outright endorsement, but through strategic non-denials turned into attacks. Attack those who point out extremist behavior, while letting the behavior itself slide as if what everyone sees isn’t real. It’s a form of winking acknowledgment to supporters while maintaining plausible deniability.
Even more disturbing is Musk’s specific choice of words. His repeated use of ‘dirty tricks’ echoes classic Nazi antisemitic propaganda, which routinely relied on the German word for ‘dirty’ (schmutzig) to dehumanize Jewish people. White supremacist hate groups typically promote the trope that Jews are involved in “dirty tricks” to control or subvert society for their own benefit, based in long-standing anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Thus Musk’s response wasn’t casual language – it was a deliberate propaganda tool to invoke Nazi themes about Jews being ‘unclean’ or ‘impure.’ When Musk calls for ‘better dirty tricks,’ he’s not just refusing to deny his Nazi salute – he’s actively whistling Nazi-era antisemitic language while doing so.
Further historical echoes are impossible to ignore. After Kristallnacht in 1938, the Nazi leadership didn’t deny organizing the violence against Jewish citizens. Instead, they blamed the victims for “provoking” it. Don’t deny the action – just attack those who criticize it and claim victimhood.
When someone with Musk’s massive platform plays these games, the stakes become enormous. His claim about leaving the ‘kindness party’ becomes even more sinister when paired with his use of Nazi-era antisemitic language. He’s not just switching political parties – he’s embracing and amplifying extremist rhetoric while playing the victim.
This is about more than one gesture or one tweet. It’s about more than years of evidence that Elon Musk promotes Nazism. It’s about recognizing how extremism spreads in the digital age. Not through outright statements, but through strategic non-denials and attacks on critics.
When influential figures refuse to deny their extremist actions and instead attack those who dare to point them out, they’re doing more than defending themselves – they’re normalizing the indefensible.
History shows us exactly where this leads. The only question is whether we’ll stop it in time to avoid the end of democracy.