The reaction to give a Nazi salute or not give a Nazi salute is hard-wired by the time you are in your mid-50s and a person in the public eye for decades in the West.

I'm about Musk's age. I run a company for 30 years. I give presentations multiple times a year, and have on camera open discussions multiple times a week with clients.

I've known since I was about 12 or 13 what a Nazi salute is, and that it is NOT something you want to do in public, because even before the internet every now and then some public person would give a "Sieg Heil" and be raked over the coals in the press for it.

Musk having Asperger's doesn't excuse the gesture. He might not BE a Nazi, but he doesn't get a pass. At best, Musk gets a, "We better watch this asshole even closer than before" from me. He is a union-busting, neo-fascist oligarch. A further step towards Nazism would not surprise me.

Is Musk a Nazi sympathizer? Maybe. Was he giving a dog whistle to the right for political advantage? Quite possibly. We need to scrutinize him more than ever now.