Even though Elon Musk's Nazi salute last week is on video for all to see, CNN's Scott Jennings tried to defend his gesture — associated with Adolf Hitler and white supremacy — as a normal greeting.
"This salute trutherism is outrageous. This is the biggest conspiracy theory going on in the media," he said to Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell. To which Rampell told him to put his money where his mouth (or arm) is.
"So do it right now on TV," she challenged Jennings. "If you think this is a normal way to greet people, do it right now on TV. Why won't you?!" But Jennings only rose to the challenge with clamped lips and a silent, gulping stare. (See video below, posted by Acyn.)
Just like the way MAGA paints the violent J6 Capitol rioters as friendly tourists, Musk's gesture — identical to the Hitler salute that debuted in Nazi Germany — is interpreted by MAGA as an ordinary message of joy. And 2+2=5.
From Mediaite:
Musk has endorsed the far-right German political party, Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany), whose leading members have made controversial, if not downright fascistic statements over the years while downplaying the Holocaust. Speaking to an AfD gathering via video over the weekend, Musk told party members that in Germany, there is "too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that." Moreover, in 2023 Musk agreed with a tweet claiming that Jews "have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them." The billionaire replied, "You have said the actual truth" before trying to walk back his reply.
Previously: Kellyanne Conway: lies are "alternative facts" and if the press says otherwise, there's gonna be trouble
