“The future of civilization is assured”: Elon Musk’s Inauguration Speech and the Reality of Christofascism in the U.S.

On January 20, 2025, Washington D.C. was abuzz with activity as Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. In addition to the pomp and circumstance of the swearing-in ceremony, Trump signed a high stack of executive orders before a cheering crowd, there were performances by musical artists, and speeches given by Trump’s most ardent supporters. Among them was none other than tech billionaire and richest-man-in-the-world, Elon Musk—the man tasked with oversight of Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Much of his speech was the typical kind of grandiose chest-thumping common at these kinds of events, but one moment sticks out when rewatching the video. Musk says to the crowd, “I want to thank you for making it happen,” after which he strikes himself in the chest with his right hand before immediately extending his arm straight out, fingers together and palm down. He turns around and recreates the same gesture for good measure to the people behind him. While this gesture didn’t seem to phase the cheering crowd, any student of history would know that this is the same salute utilized by the Nazi movement in the early 20th century as fascism took root in Germany.

While Trump and his ilk have long been praised by America’s contingency of neo-Nazis, the more mainstream Trump-supporters have done their best to keep the fascist-sympathizers at arm’s length (at least publicly). However, Musk’s recent antics on the inaugural stage says the quiet part out loud, for lack of a better term. And all this is also cast against the backdrop of both the broad evangelical support of Trump, as well as Musk’s 2024 comments claiming himself to be a “cultural Christian” in a conversation with Jordan Peterson. What exactly this means is unclear, but he at least gestures generally to the “principles” of Christianity and Jesus’ teachings.

Now, if you’re feeling a bit of cognitive dissonance, you’re not alone. There’s something deeply unsettling about the conflation of Jesus’ teachings—teachings which uplifted the poor and oppressed, brought people healing and sought after social equity—with the ideology used to exterminate millions of people during the Shoah. There’s a term for this: Christofascism. And it’s not a new development or emergence in our country. As early as 1939, there was a gathering of thousands of American Nazis in New York City. What is a new development or emergence, though, is the open and explicit legitimization of this belief system by our country’s most rich and powerful. Even though fascist sympathies have long lurked in the shadows of our country, they’ve receive newfound validation from the highest office in the land.

After Musk’s Nazi salutes to the crowd, he made a notable statement that shouldn’t be overlooked: “The future of civilization is assured.” There can be no doubt as to his meaning here: the “civilization” whose future has become assured for Musk is not civilization as such but a civilization shaped and controlled by a straight-white-cisgender-capitalistic-patriarchal-Christian contingency to the exclusion of all others. While it might feel redundant to say, it’s nevertheless important (especially right now) to articulate that this American-style Christofascism is inherently at-odds with the politics of the kingdom of God as we derive them from the person of Jesus. These are politics of liberation, equity, freedom, mutual aid, affirmation, and grace; a list of things which find no parallel in Trump’s Christifascistic administration or philosophical brand.

We will be pressured to not overreact or dramatize the current political climate by using words like Neo-Nazism, fascism, dictator, autocracy, et al. It is my contention, though, that these are no longer far-afield threats but current realities that must be dealt with. We have a responsibility to name them accurately, resist efforts to explain-away or redefine them in less controversial terms, and continue to create spaces where the authentic liberation of the gospel can be heard. Without pastors, religious leaders, and Jesus followers who have the courage to do as much, we might as well take a page out of Dante’s book and begin waving a new flag: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”