it’s kinda obvious. The people that already like him would defend it and justify the act and the people that dislike him would do the opposite. I guess he might have lost a small % of people liking him here but I would not bet it to be much
So you don't turn into Russia: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/how-has-state-owned-media-in-russ...
Authoritarian regimes rely on disengagement and nihilism to remain in power.
Not a dumb question IMHO, but a hard one to answer. The closest thing to a 1930s-era HN might have been the classrooms and labs at places like Gottingen and Leipzig, where the 'hackers' of the day were watching the politicization of their profession nervously.
At some point it would have been too late for our counterparts with Jewish ethnicity to ask whether Ferdinand Porsche gave a Nazi salute or whether Wernher von Braun was giving speeches at Goering's favorite beer hall. They were too busy struggling with questions like, "When do I have to leave, where can I afford to take my family, and who will take us in?", bearing in mind that even the United States imposed ethnic quotas on Jewish immigrants at the time.
Those questions are the ones that crop up later, after polite society fails to pay enough attention to the earlier ones. The smart 'hackers' might have suspected what was coming, but it's always too soon to speak up, isn't it?
I just started reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to get a better handle on the history of things. I read a book on Mussolini last year to try to gain some perspective. They both seemed to have risen to power through flaws in those countries' democracy, which is slightly terrifying watching the USA, as it definitely has flaws. However, I am unsure if the flaws I can see are big enough to allow for a "soft coup" at some point (and I am not an expert on what can be abused).
Him being a nutty rightwinger doing nazi salutes should put at least some off.
I've heard so many people kinda denying to themself what Musk is. Like some sort of cope.