Either you've been living under a rock or you're trolling. In the very least, beyond the very public way he repeatedly did the Nazi salute and was very unapologetic about it, you can't ignore away how Musk went way out of his way to support a neoNazi party from Germany.
On the other hand, neonazis and their enablers are united in the inevitable cry for proof and "truth", and then looking the other way when it's delivered. Obviously this is a very efficient tactic, and I agree with you it's why the left lost.
Hey, I agree that he probably would never identify as a neo-Nazi. I think he thought he was being really cool and edgy throwing out the salute that was co-opted/adjusted by the Nazi party. The company he keeps still informs us on what he's willing to tolerate, and as I've laid out in your parent comment, he's chosen time and time again to endorse some pretty problematic ideas.
Here's an example of Elon Musk agreeing with a man who repeated an antisemitic belief that the Jewish community is inviting immigrants to further racism against the white population (also alluding to the Great Replacement theory - and if you want to claim that it isn't explicitly being stated, implicit nods are inherent to most political statements)[0].
Elon Musk also endorsed and spoke at an AfD event[1], which comprises members that are 7.5X more likely to participate in Holocaust denialism: believing that the Holocaust is Allied propaganda[2]. Multiple former leaders (including a co-founder) of the AfD describe the party as extremely far-right and authoritarian[3][4]. Elected members of the AfD have been found on a Facebook group sharing memes about baking Anne Frank in a pizza oven and insulting interracial couples[5]. Maybe you could claim that these are past events, but the frequency of these issues are alarming. Even so, we have a more recent example: in 2024, a leading member of the AfD was fined for using a slogan that was used by the Nazi military[6].
At best, you could call Elon Musk an absolutely bone-headed moron who has no idea who he chooses to support or where he chooses to attend. With Occam's razor it seems like he has embraced a lot of hateful ideology.