On BBC Newsnight the panel of journalists and politicians were discussing Elon Musk’s emphatic salute at US President Donald Trump’s triumphal inauguration rally in Washington.
Probably most people have seen Musk’s Dr Strangelove moment by now but none of the panel would say what it most clearly was: a Nazi salute.
Musk did not just involuntarily raise his right arm and point his fingers to heaven. He slammed his right hand into his chest, paused for a long moment, and then thrust his arm outwards as tens of millions watched nationwide, and thousands of Trump supporters in the auditorium cheered.
At this point, many people were no doubt watching stunned and wondering if they had just hallucinated Musk’s gesture, but helpfully, he then turned his back and did the same salute to those in the seats behind him.
And yet somehow Gabriel Gatehouse, a seasoned BBC observer of US politics and the far right, played down the moment, as did the great sword-carrying failed Conservative leadership contender Penny Mordaunt. Gatehouse suggested it could be a “Roman salute” and compared it to a cartoon frog that appeared in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Because it is nothing more than tabloid gossip level opinions. The ADL already came out said it wasn’t a Nazi salute. You haven’t proved it was. You’re entitled to your opinions, but that is all it is. You do you though but Democrats will continue to lose if they scream at everything.
How to prove something is a Nazi salute if the way it is done is not said proof in itself?
Why do you trust the ADL in this?
I don’t but if anyone is a defender of the Jewish state it is the ADL. They want to make it illegal for students to protest what Israel has been doing in Gaza & are clearly against the ceasefire that Israel already broke, while blaming Hamas.
Being a Nazi has specific context & meaning. While rich people on the right like Musk may fit into some of those categories, it seems more likely that they just care about money & abuse of power, but that their ideology is substantially different than that of Nazis.
If anything it could be strongly argued that Israel’s ideology is much closer to that or Nazis.
At what point can we call musk a nazi then? If he publicly recites the 14 words?
I never said he isn’t a fascist, but again a fascist doesn’t have to be a Nazi. Democrats were calling Trump a Nazi before & it only backfired. I guess the question is do Democrats want to lose again in 4 years?
I don’t think the flavor of fascism is that important. We in Germany also call our local fascists neonazis, which got shorted to just nazis. It’s the same ideology.