The Roman salute, which one historian argues was invented in the 19th century, was adopted by Benito Mussolini
The back-to-back gestures were swift and enthusiastic, and they elicited huge cheers from the crowd. After Elon Musk ignited controversy with two fascist-style salutes during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, critics accused him of giving the Nazi salute.
Some of Musk’s supporters rushed to defend him, claiming that he had instead been giving the Roman salute. “The Roman empire is back, starting with the Roman salute,” Andrea Stroppa, a Rome-based adviser to Musk, wrote on in a post that he later deleted. Musk’s response on X was: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
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