It was the talk of the day yesterday: A hand gesture by Elon Musk, for some clearly a Hitler salute, for others an innocent hand gesture from an enthusiastic autistic person, and yet another example of Trump Derangement Syndrome – the blind panic some seem to fall into at anything Trump and his people do.

Let’s start by saying I’m not a fan of Trump, nor of Musk. (In this Radio 1 interview from 2021, I already called him a hype man with projects that seldom live up to expectations, and I probably wouldn’t get along with him.) But that said, and knowing the kind of content Elon Musk likes and shares on X, I still don’t really think his hand gesture was meant as Nazi symbolism.

Anyone who watches the entire clip will see that Musk is hyped up throughout the video, making bold gestures. Right after making the hand gesture, he says, “my heart goes out to you.” While I find the content of his speech overly dramatic (the world wouldn’t have ended if Harris had won, and as for Mars—well, when it comes to sensible spending, that’s not exactly the first thing that comes to mind), I genuinely believe his gesture was intended as a simple wave or outreach to the crowd. A gesture you see countless other politicians and celebrities make regularly, from Barack Obama to Taylor Swift, from Hillary Clinton to our King Willem-Alexander.

“Elon is just autistic; that’s why he did this!” say his defenders online. “Nonsense, autistic people know what a Nazi salute is too!” say others. And yes, of course autistic people know what a Nazi salute is. But is that what this was? “What does autism have to do with it? Non-autistic people make this gesture too!” others counter. I can agree with that to a large extent. As I mentioned above, there are plenty of photos of celebrities with an outstretched arm in the air. Still, I think autism is somewhat relevant here. (Setting aside for a moment whether Elon is actually autistic—he says he is, so let’s assume that for now.)

Because while other celebrities also wave at their audience, Musk as a whole sometimes comes across as a bit odd. This is also true in the video I linked above. All his movements are unusual. His voice goes all over the place. His enthusiasm seems to spill over. This makes it harder for people to read him, and as a result, he is more easily misunderstood.

This whole situation feels like a watered-down repeat of 2016-2020, when everyone suddenly became obsessed with the OK hand gesture (where you make a circle with your thumb and index finger). Online trolls had spread the story that it symbolized White Power (with the three extended fingers forming a W and the circle and arm below forming the P), and suddenly anyone signaling that everything was okay—or just nervously fidgeting with their fingers—was branded a covert racist. (The symbol was later adopted by actual racists, who reveled in the confusion that had arisen.)

It also reminds me of the controversy surrounding Nick Sandmann, the high school student who became world-famous for doing absolutely nothing while wearing a MAGA hat in front of a drumming Native American. After seeing a short video in which Sandmann stands in front of the man with a smirk (or awkward grin), the media confidently labeled him a racist. Twitter users suggested he at least deserved a beating. Later, it turned out that the students were the ones being provoked by another group of demonstrators. (Sandmann sued the news networks and received significant settlements.)

Also in the case of Musk, critics are already certain of their conclusions. While I try to leave room for doubt by using words like “think” and “seems to me,” the anti-Trump crowd is convinced: “This was a Hitler salute, Republicans are Nazis, the U.S. is now led by a bunch of fascists, and we’re all doomed!” And where some people usually lead the charge in calling for compassion and acceptance of autism, now it’s no excuse, no explanation, and I, as an autistic person and writer of this piece, might as well drop dead in their eyes for holding the wrong opinion.

Some of the critics genuinely seem to believe their accusations. They are afraid, often amplified by their own bubble where this kind of narrative floods their timelines in the hundreds. But there’s another group that I don’t think truly believes it. They see no reason to fact-check or reason through something that so conveniently fits their narrative. They thrive on clicks, shared by those from the first half of this paragraph.

Once you start to see through this game, it becomes so exhausting. There’s plenty of legitimate criticism to be had about Musk, about Trump, and about the entire Republican party. (For example, Musk’s involvement seems self-serving, and I find Trump’s communication style far below the level you’d expect from a president.) But there’s also plenty of legitimate criticism to be had about the Democrats. They still don’t seem to fully grasp that their recent losses are largely their own fault, preferring instead to believe that everyone who disagrees with them must simply be a Nazi.