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.
Are you on meth or something, lol? You’re unintelligible
They’re claiming there’s videos of democrats doing the nazi salute everywhere. And they claim that I am not to be trusted because I’ve not seen any
It’s because there aren’t any. All the stupid responses are photos which can easily be taken out of context. Just a frame out of a video can be sufficient to achieve the look.
But what he did left zero room for misinterpretation. There’s no need to isolate the movement–it’s right there plain as day. He did it twice last to make sure everyone saw it. We will not find any Dems doing that because it would be political suicide to do so.
Anyone trying to claim that was anything but a seig heil is full of shit