The red MAGA hat has transformed into a symbol of the country’s willingness to absorb almost anything — any lie, any grievance — into a new, sour normal.

The MAGA world wasted no time finding an explanation for Elon Musk’s evocative hand gesture. Musk quickly flung up his hand and after placing it over his heart at a post-inauguration rally, putting his arm at an angle that raised eyebrows across the world.

Taking aim at Wikipedia co-founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, Musk argued that the site had become an extension of left-wing media or the “legacy media”, a term that has been adopted as a derogatory way to refer to traditional media sources by the MAGA movement.