Musk’s salute was a message to all of the world’s far-right legions: now is our time - but liberals and pro-Israel groups don't see it

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.

  • John Richard@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    9 hours ago

    “Please provide a video of a Democrat doing that thing with their arms, but I’m a scared that it might exist so they have to look like Elon, double tap their heart & hold out their arm exactly at the angle Elon did, and they have to turn around after & do something similar in the other direction where I can’t see. If it is at all different then I get to decide, which clearly I am not biased. Wink wink”

    • DokPsy@lemmy.world
      2·
      5 hours ago

      Tell me you didn’t see the video without telling me you didn’t see the video. It’s a very clear motion towards the front and back of the podium. There is no legitimate reason to mistake it for anything else.

      I’m asking you to provide evidence to back your claim that plenty of Democrats have done the “Roman salute” in video form. I ask for video because anyone can take a picture at an angle to make a false equivalence in bad faith.

      You made a claim. Back it up with evidence or shut up about this “both sides are bad” bullshit. There are legitimate claims to deride the party as they’re part of the problem of taking the Overton window to the right. This is not one of those claims