I’m sure for those of you not proactive enough to completely avoid your social media accounts were as unable as I was to avoid the degree of aghast and abhorrence that was turned on Elon Musk in the wake of what TIME’s Chad De Guzman described in his account of the events of Monday in frigid Washington:
Musk was visibly bursting with excitement after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. At a celebratory rally on Monday at Capitol One Arena in Washington, he pumped his fist in the air and bellowed a “Yes!” to the raucous crowd. But another gesture soon after has sent observers questioning whether Musk was expressing just joy, or something more insidious.
“I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and X owner told the audience of Trump supporters. Musk then slapped his chest with his right hand, before flinging it diagonally upwards, palm face down. He turned around to audience members behind the podium, and repeated the gesture. “My heart goes out to you,” the 53-year-old billionaire said, palm back on his chest.
Social media swarmed with confusion—and theories. “WTF?? What did Elon Musk just do??” one X user asked. (Other) users immediately drew comparison to a Nazi salute popularly used by Adolf Hitler. Public broadcaster PBS shared the clip on social media and reported it as “what appeared to be a fascist salute.” Musician and environmental activist Bill Madden posted: “If giving the Nazi ‘Sieg Heil’ salute was an Olympic event like gymnastics, Elon Musk would’ve received a perfect score of 10. Musk even nailed the facial expression. Seriously, Hitler would be jealous.”
Naturally, plausible deniability and indignation was the response from the guilty party. NEWS 18 reported how Richie Rich retorted:
Musk late on January 20 took to X and said the “salute hoax” was part of a Democratic “dirty tricks campaign” against him. “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,” Musk added. “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
Believe me, I’m as disgusted by having to see something that even gives the appearance of this sort of capitulation as you are. But in poor Elon’s case, I’m actually willing to give him a bit of the benefit of the doubt, based upon what he’s previously shared about himself and how I can relate to it. You may recall what he shared on national television which NEWSWEEK’s Science and Health Reporter
During his appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed that he has Asperger’s syndrome.
“I don’t always have a lot of intonation or variation in how I speak, which I’m told makes for great comedy,” Musk joked during the opening monologue of the episode that he guest-hosted.
“I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL. Or at least the first person to admit it,” he said.
Well, I’ve yet to host SNL, but I was forced to confront what clearly were similar symptoms when a caustic colleague of mine quipped that he was often embarrassed by some of my quirks at various media events we attended as fellow executives. He noted that I had a habit of occasionally responding in far too much of an outside voice to questions from other attendees, particularly the press, and I would often rock back and forth while they were talking. When a woman I was quite intrigued with interrupted a make-out session and made the very same observation, I then took notice.
Turns out my family history, as is the case with many of Ashkenazi Jewish background, is rampant with undiagnosed Asperger’s, which as Georgiou explained is a term… first popularized by the British psychiatrist Lorna Wing in the early 1980s. It derives from a study conducted in 1944 by Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger, which described children in his care who had difficulty making friends, struggled to understand the body language or feelings of others, and often engaged in one-sided conversations about their favorite interests.
Those of you who actually know me are likely bobbing your heads in agreement as enthusiastically and perhaps as uncontrollably as Musk was observed doing while occuping his choice viewing position directly behind former U.S. presidents inside the Capital on Monday. I eventually took the advice of the woman I never did make out with and learned techniques to mitigate my rocking symptoms in public. I learned to utilize a lectern or even a wall as an anchoring toll when making presentations or speeches. And I eventually became aware enough of my more obsessive traits to nip them in the bud–most of the time.
So yes, Muskrat and your detractors, there is hope for a better life. I’m not quite so forgiving about his enablers.
I’m much more POd at 0ne Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of an organization that broke ranks with many with similar missions as De Guzman also noted:
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization whose mission is to combat antisemitism and which describes a “Hitler salute” as one with an “outstretched right arm with the palm down,” posted on X shortly after the incident that the billionaire Trump mega-donor “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” and that “all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath.”
One is left to wonder why Greenblatt would allow such forgiving language to be attached to him As per usual, one only has to follow the money. And there’s a whole lot of it being funneled both to him and Musk’s superhero President in the form of one Miriam Adelson. Her Wikipedia bio is especially revealing:
(A)n Israeli-American physician, businesswoman, and political donor…Miriam Adelson is one of the largest supporters of Donald Trump, who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018. Adelson has been a major donor to Trump’s presidential campaigns, as well as his 2017 presidential inauguration and his legal defense fund against the Mueller investigation into Russian interference. Adelson is also the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team with her son-in-law Patrick Dumont.
Which means Adelson currently employs one Kyrie Irving. You do recall the hubbub Irving caused when he was toiling in a slightly more Jewish environment than the one that he’s currently in. THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Tania Ganguli and Sopan Deb reported on it just prior to Thanksgiving 2022:
Nets guard Kyrie Irving continues to face backlash for posting a link on Twitter to an antisemitic film last month.
On Oct. 27, Irving tweeted a link to “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a 2018 film driven by antisemitic tropes about Jewish people lying about their origins. Among its false and outlandish claims is the assertion that the Holocaust never happened. In a letter dated Nov. 4, the Anti-Defamation League and the Nets called on Amazon to take down or add explanatory context to the film and a related book, writing that they were “designed to inflame hatred and, now that it was popularized by Mr. Irving, will lead directly to the harm of Jews.
For a week after Irving posted the link to the film, he declined to apologize or say that he held no antisemitic beliefs, prompting the Nets on Nov. 3 to suspend him indefinitely. He has since apologized, but the fallout continues: On Nov. 4, Nike condemned hate and antisemitism, and suspended its relationship with Irving effective immediately.
So the very same day that Irving at least attempted some sort of forced acknowledgment of his shortcomings, Greenblatt chose to reignite the situation on behalf of his constituents. But then again, at the time he wasn’t working for someone as generous to him as Adelson is. And judging by the post-mortem milling that showed her more than comfortable with her fellow oligarchs, Adelson seems to be more than forgiving to any of Elon’s shortcomings. After all, per Wikipedia she’s only the 53rd richest person in the world–and at a mere $32B of net worth she’s got a ways to go to catch up.
Adelson is also a year older than Trump, so it’s not like she has time on her side. At least Musk does. If only someone would show him enough respect–or deny him some love–for him to learn as I did how to do better.
Until next time…