The record
What happened, with sources.
No opinion columns and no cable news. Each entry points to a primary record where one exists: a government filing, a company filing, unedited video or his own posts. Where we rely on reporting, it is a wire service or an industry body. Our opinion is at the bottom, labelled as opinion.
2008 to 2017
Tesla makes the electric car mainstream
Tesla ships the Roadster in 2008, the Model S in 2012 and the Model 3 in 2017.
Source: Tesla annual reports (Form 10-K), US Securities and Exchange Commission.
October 27, 2022
Musk buys Twitter
The acquisition closes at US$54.20 a share, about US$44 billion in total. Twitter becomes a private company owned through his holding company, and he later renames it X.
Source: Twitter, Inc. Form 8-K, October 27, 2022, US Securities and Exchange Commission.
November 2022
Suspended accounts come back
After running a poll on the platform, he reinstates Donald Trump's account, which Twitter had suspended following January 6, 2021.
July 13, 2024
He endorses Donald Trump
He announces the endorsement on Twitter on the day of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
2024 election
At least US$288 million
Year-end federal filings put his giving at no less than US$288 million in support of Trump and other Republican candidates. Most of it went through America PAC, the super PAC he created.
December 20, 2024
He backs Germany's AfD
He posts on Twitter that only the AfD can save Germany, two months before a German federal election. At the time, the party was under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
Source: His own post on Twitter, December 20, 2024. German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz).
January 20, 2025
The gesture
At an Inauguration Day rally in Washington he puts his right hand to his chest and thrusts his arm out straight, palm down, then turns and does it again. Many viewers, including historians of fascism, describe it as a Nazi salute. He denies that and calls the criticism a tired attack. The Anti-Defamation League says at the time that it looked like an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.
Source: Unedited event video, January 20, 2025. Anti-Defamation League statement, January 20, 2025. His own posts on Twitter responding to the criticism.
January 20, 2025
He gets a role in government
An executive order creates the Department of Government Efficiency. The order does not name him. In a sworn court filing weeks later, the White House describes him as a senior adviser to the President and a special government employee with no formal authority to make government decisions, and says he is not the administrator of the new department.
Source: Executive Order 14158, US Federal Register. Declaration of Joshua Fisher, State of New Mexico v. Musk, No. 1:25-cv-00429, US District Court for the District of Columbia, filed February 17, 2025.
January 25, 2025
He addresses an AfD rally
Five days after the gesture he speaks by video to an AfD campaign rally in Halle. He tells the crowd the party is the best hope for Germany and says there is too much focus on past guilt.
Source: Reuters, "Elon Musk appears on video at German far right campaign event", January 25, 2025.
2025 onward
Buyers respond
European industry data shows Tesla registrations across the EU, EFTA countries and the UK down 45 percent in January 2025 against a year earlier, in a month when battery-electric car sales in the EU grew 34 percent. Tesla reports first quarter 2025 net income of US$409 million, down 71 percent. Analysts also point to an ageing lineup, a model changeover and tougher competition, and registrations recovered in several European countries in early 2026.
Source: European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), January 2025 registrations release. Tesla Q1 2025 Update, Tesla investor relations.
In fairness
Musk says the gesture was not a salute, and the Anti-Defamation League read it the same way at the time. We link the video so you can decide for yourself.
Tesla is a public company. The people who design, build and service its cars are not responsible for what its chief executive says or does, and neither are the people who bought one years ago.
If we have a fact wrong, tell us and we will fix it: thumbsdown@thumbsdownforelon.com. Last reviewed: October 8, 2026.
Our opinion
That is the record. Here is what we make of it.
We think a man who does these things should not be rewarded with your next car purchase. You can read the same record and disagree. If you agree, the response we are asking for is small, legal and takes one second.
Fuck oligarchs. Fuck fascism.