President Javier Milei defended Elon Musk’s apparent Nazi salute in a screed posted to X late Tuesday, calling it an “innocent gesture” seized on by progressives because Musk’s activities challenge “international wokism’s hegemonic control.”

While addressing supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump at the Capital One Arena in Washington after his inauguration Monday, Musk raised his right arm to the crowd, palm down, before turning and repeating the gesture. Onlookers around the world blasted the move as a Nazi or fascist salute.

According to Anti-Semitism campaign group the Anti-Defamation League, the Nazi or Hitler salute consists of “raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down.” The group adds that the gesture, which is also associated with fascism, is one of the most common white supremacist hand gestures in the world.

“NAZI MY ASS,” Milei wrote on X Tuesday night. “Elon Musk must be one of the most important men in history, driving human progress at breakneck speeds, and he has always defended freedom in its purest form, for everyone.”

You may also be interested in: Argentina’s Milei tells Davos that ‘wokism is cancer’ and feminism a ‘distortion’

He said the business magnate’s purchase of Twitter, now X, would “undoubtedly be regarded as one of his great contributions to humanity” because the platform was “programmed to cancel any discourse that didn’t align with the hegemonic woke narrative.”  

Musk’s salute, he said, was an “innocent gesture” seized upon by progressives because “his fight for freedom threatens the hegemonic control of international wokism.”  

New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted online: “Historian of fascism here. That was a Nazi salute – and a very belligerent one too.”

Elon Musk and the extreme right

The Tesla and X owner’s gesture came at a time when Musk’s support for the extreme right has come under public scrutiny. Earlier this month, he interviewed Alice Weidel, the joint leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, on X spaces. During the interview, he said that “voting for AfD is simply the sensible and common sense move.” Later, he posted: “AfD is the only hope for Germany.”

The German authorities have classified AfD’s youth wing and several of its chapters as right-wing extremists.

Musk has appeared to brush off the allegations that his gesture on Monday was Nazi salute. “The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired,” he wrote on X, with an emoji of a snoring face.

He has also shared images and videos of Democrats and their supporters, such as congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and pop megastar Taylor Swift, making similar arm movements during public appearances.

Milei’s relationship with Musk

Milei and Musk have been expressing public support for each other since the president’s rise to Argentina’s top job, with Musk congratulating the libertarian on X when he won the 2023 elections. They have since met several times, with Milei visiting Musk’s Tesla factory last April. 

Musk has said that he is “very interested” in Argentina’s lithium reserves, and the pair discussed organizing a “large event in Argentina” to promote their shared ideals.

Under the Trump presidency, Musk will head up a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), which its organizers say is inspired in part from Milei’s massive cuts to the state since assuming office.

Milei finished his message in defense of Musk with a threat to his perceived progressive foes. 

“Not only are we not afraid of them, but we will hunt them down to the last corner of the planet in defense of FREEDOM,” he wrote.  “Leftist sons of b*tches, tremble.”

The president’s post immediately sparked widespread backlash, including a sharp, direct response from social leader and former presidential candidate Juan Grabois. 

“Your friends are Nazis, and you’re a little monkey who trails behind them, getting excited by every peanut the Aryan race and the trillionaire caste throws his way,” Grabois said, echoing Milei by calling him a “fascist son of a b*tch” and saying the opposition isn’t trembling. “And look out because nobody voted you in to be a tyrant, every unconstitutional act from you, your ministers, or your armed wing is being recorded in our memory.”