Is Elon Musk a Nazi, and can he get European far-right hardliners elected?

When tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared to execute a Nazi salute to a Republican assemblage honouring United States President Donald Trump’s inauguration, societal media lit up with accusations that helium was a fascist.

When helium addressed a governmental rally of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party successful the German metropolis of Halle, those suspicions seemed confirmed.

“There’s excessively overmuch of a absorption connected past guilt and we request to determination connected from that,” helium said, from a elephantine video screen.

The assemblage cheered erstwhile helium said, “It’s OK to beryllium arrogant to beryllium German. It’s bully to beryllium arrogant of German culture, German values, and not to suffer that successful immoderate benignant of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”

And they cheered adjacent much loudly erstwhile helium accused the ruling Social Democrats of taking a “totalitarian approach” to their beliefs, and finished with “Freedom of code is the instauration of democracy.”

Party person Alice Weidel grinned broadly from the podium and clapped.

Is Elon Musk a Nazi? Nazis look to deliberation so. Christian nationalists, achromatic supremacists and avowed neo-Nazis successful the US each hailed Musk’s salute arsenic a historical comeback for their cause.

Musk’s nationalist preoccupations connected X, his messaging platform, are surely libertarian. He fulminates against over-regulation and authorities discarded and obsesses implicit freeing the imaginable of the marketplace and of individuals.

He is incensed with what helium sees arsenic uncontrolled migration and taste cohesion. He seems to judge everyone should enactment wherever they were calved – though helium himself emigrated from South Africa to Canada successful 1988.

As a corollary, helium insists connected binary sex roles arsenic a means of reversing demographic diminution successful developed economies.

And helium perpetually plays connected the taxable of escaped speech, insisting that antiauthoritarian societies are hypocritical successful claiming to support it.

Controversially, helium did connected 1 juncture successful 2023 endorse an anti-Semitic station connected X.

The station work successful part, “Jewish communties (sic) person been pushing the nonstop benignant of dialectical hatred against whites that they assertion to privation radical to halt utilizing against them.”

Musk replied then, “You person said the existent truth.”

Does each this marque him a Nazi?

“No, helium is not [a Nazi],” said Jean-Yves Camus, co-director of the Observatory of Political Radicalism astatine the Jean Jaures Foundation successful Paris. He believes Musk and Trump are self-serving alternatively than ideological.

“The benignant of authorities they privation to execute is similar an autocracy, the regularisation of instrumentality by 1 man, with nary boundaries. They person nary boundaries,” helium told Al Jazeera.

“I judge helium is ideologically unmoored,” agreed Constantinos Filis, who directs the Institute of Global Affairs astatine the American College of Greece.

“I don’t spot coherent governmental thought,” said Filis. “His thoughts stem from his concern interests and assorted floating ideas. I mean, what considered sentiment of Germany oregon the AfD leads Musk to state helium volition prevention the planet?”

Filis was referring to Musk’s remark successful Halle, “This predetermination coming up successful Germany is incredibly important. It could determine the full destiny of Europe, possibly the destiny of the world.”

If Musk isn’t a existent Nazi, wherefore bash far-right enactment leaders similar Weidel and the UK’s Reform Party person Nigel Farage clamour for his support?

“It’s wide they privation his money… and done X, Musk gives them a abstraction to explicit themselves,” said Filis. “Through fake accounts helium whitethorn besides beryllium giving them the quality of enactment from radical who whitethorn not exist.”

Musk besides plays good to the base. “The anti-systemic crowd… spot a palmy businessman who appears to person made it arsenic an outsider. That is what Musk sells, that helium is palmy and goes against the system,” said Filis.

If Musk isn’t ideological, wherefore does helium fuss to woo the acold right? It isn’t cheap. He paid a reported $277m into Trump’s re-election campaign, and Twitter, renamed X, outgo him $44bn.

Yet the keys to his occurrence did not travel from the acold right, Make America Great Again authorities of Donald Trump.

A $465m indebtedness that kept Tesla afloat came from the Department of Energy successful 2009 nether erstwhile US President Barack Obama, and a $1.6bn declaration from NASA that likewise saved his rocket institution Space-X from closure aft 3 motorboat failures came successful 2008 nether George W Bush, a Republican president who has denounced MAGA politics.

Some judge Musk’s authorities are wholly cynical.

“He seems to person done a cost-benefit investigation of the wealth helium tin marque by supporting the anti-systemic assemblage versus the others,” said Filis. “Besides, successful a state wherever institutions work, a businessman has tiny nett margins. In an unruly nine wherever capitalism is unbridled, helium evidently has overmuch much to gain.”

Musk’s interest successful Europe whitethorn simply beryllium to wreak havoc connected its economical and concern policy, believed Filis.

“He whitethorn spot competitors helium wants to eliminate. The German car manufacture is not present astatine its best, but it tin contiguous a situation to Tesla.”

If Musk was instrumental successful helping Trump get elected, tin helium propulsion the aforesaid disconnected successful Europe?

Camus believes right-wing nationalism is really moving against Musk successful France. “Some [parties] are truthful nationalist they are opening to ask: What President Trump does is possibly bully for the US, but is it bully for us?” helium said.

“This is wherefore [far-right National Rally leader] Marine le Pen did not be the [Trump] inauguration. Because however tin she spell to an mean French metropolis and explicate to voters successful the moving people that President Trump is putting tariffs connected French goods, truthful that’s 1 1000 jobs little for us? No way.”