If once is a mistake and twice is a coincidence, then on Thursday Republicans got this much closer to a pattern when, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), former Donald Trump adviser and convicted felon Steve Bannon made a gesture that is identical to a Nazi salute.
You can see the moment Bannon made the gesture — extending his arm, palm down, fingers straight, at an upward angle away from his chest, which is also what Nazi salutes look like, in the video below:
Of course the gesture was also identical to one made by billionaire Elon Musk, twice, at Donald Trump’s inauguration. In that instance, Musk preceded it by putting his right hand to his chest, and then forcefully — to the point of grunting with exertion — extended his arm straight out, palm down, fingers straight, at an upward angle away from his chest. Which, whatever the billionaire’s intention, just happens to be precisely how a Nazi salute is performed.
Moments later, Musk repeated the gesture. Here’s how that looked.
He was immediately condemned by a wide cross section of observers and later complained about that criticism, which he dismissed as “everyone is Hitler,” is “sooo tired” and “dirty tricks.” Musk has not as of this date specifically denied the accusations that the gesture was a Nazi salute. However, for reasons one can only guess at, others took the liberty of denying that on his behalf, unprompted.
This included the ADL, which in a statement shortly after the incident insisted Musk’s gesticulation was merely “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.” The statement also demanded that “all sides” provide each other with “a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath.”
In an embarrassing turn, just two days later the ADL had to berate Musk for mocking the uproar with a series of bad Nazi-related puns. As of this writing the group has neither criticized Bannon nor issued a preemptive defense of his action. In 2016 it did strongly oppose Bannon’s appointment as senior adviser to Trump during his first term.
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