#and elon has already done the nazi salute

[neptunescore]

To any and all of my moots/followers living in America, oh my god yall need to move rn. I beg.

[business-as-usual-bats]

"Give Elon Musk the benefit of the doubt-"

Except here's the thing- I did.

Because I heard about it before I saw it. I never particularly liked Musk, but I moreso felt fairly ambivalent toward him. I certainly did not picture him as a Nazi.

When I first heard about the Nazi salute I was surprised. And when that person told me, "Oh, but they're saying it was unintentional, just him being awkward-"

I believed that. I believed it was most likely a mistake, and people were exaggerating because so many are upset and panicked.

And then I saw the video.

Immediately it was so much worse than I had imagined. I was shocked. Everything about the video to his body language to his facial expression. How he did it twice. It was so obviously intentional and undeniable. And even then I compared it to multiple other videos of Nazis doing the salute, including modern-day Nazis. It's identical.

He didn't even deny it immediately afterward???

Not even a simple, "Ha, obviously that's not what I meant-" He avoided the question and laughed it off altogether, to imply MAYBE it wasn't on purpose. And yet you can't help but notice he still didn't deny it.

And the arguments defending him are INSANE. They capture pictures of other politicians mid-wave, mid-gesture and say, "See??? See??? They've all done it!"

No. They haven't. Not like that. Not a salute like that. Not even close to being so intentional and obvious.

Or they go, "It was him throwing his heart out to the crowd-"

No. There's multiple videos of him doing that during other speeches of his, and it's nowhere near this Nazi salute. Palms turned upward, or using both arms, etc, etc. It's not as if he's not used to giving speeches, as if he has not been coached and had training on what to do or not to do when public speaking.

"Noooo it's the Roman Salute!"

The Nazi Salute is based off the Roman Salute specifically (the arm is just dipped slightly lower-) AND EITHER WAY THEY'RE BOTH CONSIDERED HATE SYMBOLS??

The cognitive dissonance of people trying and trying and trying to excuse him. And to be clear- I would love if there was a good excuse! I don't want him to have thrown up a Nazi salute on live national television!

But he did. I cannot deny my own eyes. No matter what I am told, I know what I see as clear as day.

I'm not even saying he's a Nazi, I'm not claiming to know what his beliefs are or why he did a Nazi salute on Live television. Hell, maybe he did it as a dare, or a challenge to himself to see what he can get away with, but it doesn't really matter why.

What I know:

1. For whatever reason, Elon Musk intentionally did the Nazi Salute on Live television.

2. He did not immediately deny doing so or apologize.

3. Because of this, today's Nazis are praising him for it. They are saying "We're back!" And "This is our time!" And various celebratory phrases.

4. Even if you argue this was unintentional (even though I can tell by his body language it was) the damage has been done. Nazis are rallying behind him, encouraged, excited. This is going to have consequences.

Nazis have already been parading around my city. Now they're going to be bolder. The damage has been done.

TLDR: I was fully prepared to believe Elon doing the Nazi salute was an awkward mistake but one look at the video and I cannot fool myself into believing otherwise. And now we have to pay the price for his stupid actions.

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

Whatcha think of Trump getting in and all that he's already doing? To me it really feels like everyone is simply forgetting the horrific things Biden and every other mf president has ever done. They're all shit

The same as you. It changes nothing for me. I would be doing what I'm doing regardless of who the president is.

Elon doing a nazi salute, I'm just kinda surprised he did it on tv. Other than that, it's like ok, yeah that checks out.

The deportations and anti-trans stuff. Oh you mean the same things that were happening during Biden? The things made easier for Trump to do because of what the Dems started during Biden.

I'm not saying Biden was worse. I'm saying they're both shit.

[mariacallous]

Pundits spent the past week expressing wonderment at how Donald Trump has lumbered back into the White House with a massive show of dominance and power. What they missed is that he’s already done more damage to the two most valuable assets of the office — its legitimacy and institutional power — than any prior presidency.

Trumpers have relished the chaos and utter dysfunction they’ve rapidly and deliberately sown, calling it a “shock and awe” operation. Leaving to one side the perversion of likening a president’s governance to the mass bombardment of a military adversary, the comparison of the start of Trump’s second term to the beginning of George W. Bush’s failed Iraq War may prove to be very apt, in a catastrophic sort of way.

While many are already unfurling “Mission Accomplished” banners for The Donald, there are many red flags flying.

Trump damages himself by pardoning cop beaters

Trump has long favored pardoning friends and cronies, as well as the friends and cronies of his friends and cronies. He apparently thinks arbitrarily exercising the pardon power brings him closer to the dictatorial status he aspires to.

But by making one of his first presidential acts pardoning nearly every one of the insurrectionists — including among them those who beat, bear sprayed, crushed, and concussed police officers — Trump immediately diminished himself and his office.

During a particularly unhinged news conference, during which Trump ranted about Southern California’s water supply being shut down by a nefarious plumber who closed a “valve,” the newly inaugurated president casually admitted how little thought or consideration he had given to the vile crimes he was excusing.

In response to a reporter asking why he pardoned an insurrectionist who had tased a Capitol Police Officer in the neck, an apparently befuddled Trump responded with “Well, I don’t know,” and then said he would “take a look” at it. (Watch below.)

As if to attempt to make up for letting off the violent insurrectionists, Trump followed up his cop-beater pardons by pardoning a cop responsible for killing a guy he was chasing for riding a moped without a helmet, as well as the partner who helped cover up the crime. That only amplified the (accurate) impression that Trump has departed from basic standards of decency.

The consequence of the debacle extended well beyond Trump himself. Before he issued his blanket pardons and commutations, his toadies offered assurances that he would not be so irresponsible as to let the violent insurrectionists off. These lackeys were immediately beclowned by Trump’s actions, and then, of course, leapt into action by offering embarrassing excuses for the Leader’s actions.

These apologists aside, a number of Republicans took the rare step of criticizing Trump’s first major presidential action, which a poll showed 58 percent of Americans disagreed with. It’s not a great opening look for a would be populist strongman.

The embrace of fascism

While Trump was busy letting off cop beaters and inviting the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to become part of the “political conversation,” his top White House advisor, Elon Musk, was focused on directly associating the new regime with fascism at home and abroad.

During an inauguration day address, an ebullient Musk flashed two Hitler Salutes at a gathering of Trump supporters. Musk’s apologists later claimed, variously, that he had actually been giving a “Roman Salute” or — in an insult to persons on the spectrum — asserted that Musk’s salute was a product of his alleged “Asperger’s syndrome.”

Musk himself, however, couldn't be bothered to come up with such excuses. Instead, he responded to criticisms of his Sieg Heils with a tweet replete with National Socialist “humor,” including: “Some people will Goebbels anything down!“ and “Bet you did nazi that coming.” He even managed to include juvenile “anti-woke” humor in his Nazi tweet, saying: “His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler!”

Lest there be any doubt that the presidential consigliere’s predilection for fascism is real, Musk later in the week addressed followers of the German far right nationalist party, AfD, and urged them to “move beyond” their “past guilt” and “get excited about a future for Germany.” (Watch below.)

Trump, for his part, has so far remained largely mum about his closest advisor’s now unmistakable embrace of fascism, even while leaders of the AfD attended his inauguration. By entering office announcing their proud association with the far right, Trump and his team of extremists are marginalizing themselves.

Open and notorious illegality

The massive stack of executive orders Trump signed provided the first indications of a serious problem: He and his cronies are simultaneously confirming their status as chronically sloppy bumblers while doing their best to destroy some of the very governmental institutions that GOP presidents, including Ronald Reagan, have used to implement the kind of rightwing policies Trump claims to favor.

Overreaching and amateurish executive orders are nothing new for Trump. He stumbled during his first weeks in office in 2017 when he tried to implement a “Muslim ban” that federal judges repeatedly recognized to be illegal and galvanized resistance throughout the country.

During recent months, Trump associates claimed they had carefully prepared to avoid the stumbles of his first term. It was therefore all the more surprising that, during the first couple of days of his second one, Trump signed many EOs that are patently illegal and gratuitously offensive to many constituencies Trump and his party have come to rely on.

For example, Trump signed an executive order that made a terrible argument for the false proposition that the president has authority to deny citizenship to the children of people born in this country. The order, which purports to deny citizenship to US-born children of undocumented immigrants, is at direct odds with the first clause of the 14th Amendment. Indeed, the order is chock full of embarrassingly false assertions of

It therefore should have come as no surprise when a federal judge appointed by Reagan imposed a temporary restraining order preventing the Executive Order from being enforced, stating that it is “blatantly unconstitutional” and observing: "I've been on the bench for four decades, I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is." Similar rulings are all but certain to come soon, and it seems highly likely that Trump has set himself up for an early, major — and entirely unnecessary — loss at the Supreme Court.

On Monday night, Trump made another blatantly lawless move, ordering his budget office to put a total freeze on “all federal financial assistance.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed yesterday that the administration’s goal is “to ensure that all of the money going out from Washington DC is in a line with the president's agenda," but those dollars are appropriated by Congress and should flow regardless of Trump’s whims. Leavitt told reporters that organizations concerned about making payroll in light of the freeze should simply directly reach out to OMB Director Russ Vought, ignoring that fact that Vought hasn’t even been confirmed yet and that the order likely violates federal law.

Trump also unleashed a series of initiatives directed at the favorite bugaboo of the far right: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, otherwise known as civil rights. Trump left no doubt that his administration will be welcoming to invidious discrimination, including by revoking an executive order issued by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 requiring government contractors to ensure that their employees are “treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.”

Lest there be any doubt that the Trump administration is doing its very best to gin up an anti-civil rights movement, the Department of Defense ordered its educational personnel to censor training videos about the historic Tuskegee Airmen, until it was publicly shamed into retreating. The administration also established a hotline to snitch on suspected civil rights workers.

While the fair treatment of members of minority groups repulses a relatively small cohort of bigots among the MAGA base, such a governmental assault on non-white Christian Americans is a problematic cause for Trump, who has been trumpeting his purportedly outsized ability to garner votes from Latinos and Black Americans.

Nihilism

In recent days, Trumpers could be heard cackling in joy over the chaos that Trump’s reckless executive orders caused throughout the federal workforce. One apparent goal of this strategy is to drive as many people out of the government as possible.

The “be careful what you wish for” adage, however, could not more aptly apply. In situations like this, it’s always those who have the most sought-after skills and expertise that exit an organization, taking with them essential knowledge and abilities.

Trump’s moves may seem brilliant to nihilists who take glee in blowing up large portions of the government regardless of the consequences. But, as George W. Bush learned during Katrina, people get mighty angry when they find essential government services they rely on have been stripped away or placed in the hands of stooges.

Just as importantly, these attacks on governmental agencies and the personnel that constitute their essential infrastructure will hobble Trump’s efforts to carry out his extremist agenda. His acolytes imagine that they can restock the government with fellow extremists who just happen to have the skills and expertise required to ensure essential functions are preserved. It’s as if Trumpers don’t remember the huge costs past presidents — including Trump — have paid for putting cronies in charge, particularly during emergencies.

The first test is already upon us, as Trump confronts a rapidly escalating bird flu epidemic that is already resulting in egg prices far above those Trump used against Biden during the 2024 campaign. This is happening even as Trump is effectively inviting mission critical scientists and inspectors to leave the government’s employ.

On a longer term basis, Trump is already well on the road to doing just what the most successful far right president, Reagan, deliberately avoided — blowing up the institutions that will be essential to any actually successful effort to “remake” government.

As Reagan and his advisors recognized, it was essential to maintain the foundational infrastructure and prestige of lynchpin agencies like the DOJ, Treasury, and State Departments. Without them, a president’s powers are drastically diminished. But Trump and his acolytes are too enraptured by the flames and explosions resulting from the bombs they have been lobbing at public servants to think much about the potential consequences, including for their own agenda.

While Trump has been playing the role of The Great Dictator and ruling by decree, trouble’s been brewing. He just decamped to the sort of place he will spend much of the next four years, a golf course at a Trump resort. He’s summoned GOP lawmakers to Florida to pay him large sums and discuss perhaps the most important task of Trump’s next two years, but one he clearly finds uninteresting — passing critical legislation.

Trump and his sidekick Musk came close to causing a government shutdown, for absolutely no reason, just before Christmas. Since that time, Trump has evinced a characteristic lack of interest in the nuts and bolts of passing budgetary legislation. He reportedly told congressional leaders to come up with a way to get the debt ceiling raised to pay for his tax cuts and report back to him.

While Trump tries to keep his distance from the excruciatingly difficult task of passing anything through a House that has only a nominal Republican majority, he has also reportedly demanded that Congress pass a single, massive piece of legislation encompassing his entire agenda. It will renew and expand his unpopular tax cuts for the rich and gut essential programs — likely including ones for veterans, healthcare, education, housing, and nutrition.

The problem is that Trump and his team can’t afford to lose more than a couple of GOP votes to pass such a bill. Passage therefore requires a yes from pretty much every Republican lawmaker, from the “budget hawk” extremists to those in perilous positions in swing districts.

This, of course, is where the rubber hits the road. Many of the massive cuts in spending that GOP leaders have been floating will hit key Republicans constituencies even as Trump pushes for even more tax cuts slanted in favor of the ultra rich. Trump and his party are pursuing this strategy despite the fact that similarly regressive tax legislation, as well as a failed attempt to gut the Affordable Care Act, contributed to a major midterm loss for the GOP during Trump’s first term.

Trump is relying on fear and relentless pressure (the only type of politics he understands) to compel reluctant GOP lawmakers to vote for a bill that seems likely to doom some of them in under two years. But if only a few of them conclude that passage of Trump’s “one big beautiful bill” is likely to end their careers, it could be delayed and stripped down. Furthermore, successfully passing the bill on a party line vote could impose huge political costs on Trump and his entire party, given how unpopular key elements of it are likely to be.

In the meantime, Trump’s popularity — which while at a high for him, remains below 50 percent — could well start to decline, lessening his appearance of political invincibility.

Opportunities presented by disaster

Readers should not construe this assessment of Trump’s opening moves as a prediction of either his political demise or triumph.

Trump and his crew are plainly at war with democracy and are determined to stay in power regardless of how unpopular their policies may be. But the unpopularity of many of Trump’s policies, as well as the sheer idiocy of many of the his actions and those of his cronies, offer real opportunities to the opposition.

Whatever happens, nobody will be able to blame Trump and his party for failing to provide their opponents with a lot of ammunition to fight back.

[disco-cola]

I just absolutely saw a video of Elon Musk at the inauguration doing a Nazi salute 😀 hello? They ain’t even trying to hide it anymore. And this guy has most recently publicly endorsed the German far right party AfD too, trying to become involved in our election as well, not just once but TWICE, even being allowed to write a thinkpiece that was published in a big german newspaper a few weeks ago. And THIS is why I am so fucking done with the empty liberal „never again is now“ slogan. Like tell me you haven’t been paying attention for the last year without actually telling me. IT ALREADY IS HAPPENING!

[eton75]

Elon Musk Is Behind Trump’s Decision on South Africa

Elon Musk, a South African-born white billionaire, is actively siding with fellow white South Africans as the Black majority finally pushes for long-overdue land reform. Even after 40 years of so-called reconciliation, white South Africans still own 75% of the country’s land, while Black South Africans—the majority population—have received almost nothing.

Now, South Africa’s government, under President Cyril Ramaphosa, is taking action with the Expropriation Act, a law designed to correct apartheid-era land ownership injustices. But Musk, who has always opposed diversity and inclusion, is attacking South Africa’s new land policy, calling it “racist” while defending the white landowning elite.

Trump, who follows Musk’s lead on almost everything, has cut off all U.S. aid to South Africa, using Musk’s talking points as justification. Everything Trump is doing comes from Musk—everything.

But this is just one part of a bigger pattern. Musk has long been aligned with Trump’s anti-immigration, anti-DEI, far-right agenda:

• Musk is a Canadian citizen, yet Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canada and threatened it with war, and Musk said nothing.

• Musk’s grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was a far-right fascist who was jailed in Canada during WWII for supporting Hitler. He later moved to apartheid South Africa, where he supported white supremacy and wrote anti-Black and anti-Jewish propaganda.

• Musk today supports Germany’s far-right neo-Nazi party, the AfD, just like his grandfather. That Nazi salute was no accident—it was intentional.

• Musk is aligned with authoritarian regimes, including Putin, China, and Iran, yet he now has access to highly sensitive U.S. intelligence through his businesses.

This is the most serious national security threat in U.S. history. A man with deep ties to authoritarian regimes and a history of white supremacist support now has direct influence over U.S. policy—and he’s already stealing federal government data. If nothing is done immediately, all hell will break loose.

#ElonMusk #SouthAfrica #Trump #Apartheid #NationalSecurity #StopMusk #LandReform #Fascism #DemocracyAtRisk

[bllsbailey]

A Sleazy State of Mind: NY Democrats Work to Game the System and Keep Elise Stefanik's House Seat Vacant

Democrats have oh-so-hurt feelings these days after they got thoroughly humiliated at the ballot box in November, losing the Oval Office, the House, and the Senate—and they should be upset because their whole poisonous ideology just got shot down like a rabid raccoon in Alabama.

If you were a decent person, you would take stock of where you went wrong, maybe look in the mirror and do some self-reflecting, but New York State Democrats are not known for their decency, so they have another plan: play dirty.

To wit, they’re trying to rig the system to ensure that Rep. Elise Stefanik’s House seat doesn’t get filled until this summer. She is expected to resign shortly if she is confirmed as President Donald Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations.

In a state that wasn’t corrupt to its core, the seat would be filled by legal means worked out well in advance. But this is the Empire State, where things are done differently:

New York Democratic lawmakers are working to keep Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik's House seat vacant until the summer in an unprecedented move hashed out during late-night discussions last week, a Republican Empire State assemblyman told Fox Digital.  "We still haven't seen the final proposal from the Democrats in Albany, but there's no doubt that Tammany Hall corruption is alive and well in the state capital," Republican New York Assemblyman Matt Slater, who represents the state's 94th district in areas of Putnam and Westchester counties, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive Zoom interview on Sunday morning. 

Related: The Hits Just Keep Coming, As President-Elect Trump Taps Perfect Choice for UN Ambassador

WATCH: Insane Dem Senator Uses Hearing to Accuse Elon Musk of 'Nazi Salute,' Elise Stefanik Smashes Him

This is ridiculous and shows just how craven Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats are. They will stop at nothing to try and deny Republicans and Independents in New York representation at the federal level, even if that includes keeping Elise Stefanik's seat vacant. pic.twitter.com/eSuiRWttji— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) February 1, 2025

There was already an orderly process in place to deal with similar situations, but “Resistance” Dems want to nuke it:

Under current law, New York's governor has 10 days to declare a special election for a vacant seat and an additional 80 to 90 days to hold the election. Stefanik's seat is key for the Republican Party and Trump's second administration, as Republicans hold a slim majority at 218 members to the Democrats' 215 members. The state Democrats' anticipated legislation has not yet been introduced, but Democrats were summoned to an emergency conference on Friday evening to reportedly discuss such a bill, Slater explained. He expects to have a copy of the Democrats' bill on Monday morning. Slater said the Democrats' objective of changing election laws to move the special election back to the summer is part of their bigger agenda to combat the second Trump administration.

It’s a transparent, sleazy move, and it shows the increasing desperation of the Democrat party as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that they’re losing relevance and voters are disgusted with them. Petty ploys like this will only make them look worse as the public is increasingly becoming aware of the corrupt depths they will sink to do anything to try to get power. (See: the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental decline and the installation of Kamala Harris as the Democrat nominee despite the fact that she didn't win a single primary vote).

— Will Barclay (@WillABarclay) February 1, 2025

These are gross displays of naked opportunism, and unfortunately, they worked in the past, but folks like these got their well-deserved comeuppance on November 5, and I believe they will continue taking their medicine for years to come as they can’t seem to resist the urge to debase themselves.

Keep flailing, Dems. The world is finally seeing you for who you really are.

Hopefully this type of sleaze isn't what Billy Joel was talking about, but this seems appropriate:

[gallifreyriver]

Reblogging again for the above addition (I had forgotten to add it with the first bit it due to still recovering from the realization the bit I did add hadn't been Ai) and also to include the following from the notes:

because both are relevant to what I'm going to say next, which is that we need to have a conversation both about doublespeak and gaslighting.

To just jump right in, Trump did indeed describe Elon Musk's knowledge of voting systems as the reason he won Pennsylvania. (Timestamp) And yes, Elon very much did the hitler salute, not once, but twice, after his speech. (Video) (Also the shooting a person bit- Trump said that too, but I'll bring that back up later.)

I bring those two up first to address how the first set of tags mention that the bit about Trump talking about rigging the election could indeed actually be meant about his delusion that Biden rigged the election in 2020- but it could also be doublespeak.

(Before I start tho, the first set of tags obviously mean well and this is in no way an attack on them. I'm not even saying they're wrong- I'm just saying this opens up a conversation that needs to be had)

To explain what I mean, I need to again mention how that before he says,

"...and we got the World Cup too- and you know it's only because they rigged the election that I'll be your president representing you there. You know I got both of them. I got the Olympics, and I got the World Cup. Then I said, 'You know it's too bad- one was in 2026 and the other was in 2028," and I said, "I won't be there, I won't be your president!" ... but then they rigged the election and now we won so I'm going to be your president for the Olympics, and for the World Cup."

the comment about Musk, the voting computers, and Pennsylvania was already mentioned, where he said:

"...and then he journeyed to Pennsylvania, where he spent like a month and a half campaigning for me in Pennsylvania. He's a popular guy- and he was very effective- and he knows those computers better than anybody- all those computers, those vote counting computers- and we wound up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide, so it was pretty good. It was pretty good. So thank you to Elon!"

Clearly, due to his massive ego, he wants so badly to brag about what he did, but can't.

His comment about Elon was pretty damning- possibly the closest we'll get to a confession. However, because he never outright says the words, "Elon tampered with the computers," that leaves just enough doubt for it to be said that he's was just complimenting Elon on being "cool" and "smart" and that the "landslide" just so happened because people obviously just loved Elon so much (barf)

And because he's never shut up about claiming the 2020 election was rigged, it's also very easy to come to the conclusion that, "Well, when he says "they" rigged the election, he must really mean Biden in 2020."

And I can agree to a point- he very well might have meant Biden! However, this just as easily could be doublespeak as well- another confession said in just such a way that it's very easy to claim he meant something else.

And it's kind of time, due to everything else he and his supporters have said/done yet gotten away scot free with- like people trying so hard to brand that nazi salute as literally anything else, and how his supporters tried to brand the insurrection as tourists visiting the capitol, and the fact that Trump has shown that he can say and do whatever he pleases with no consequences to the degree that he committed 34 felonies yet still was allowed to not only run but also be elected president- that we kind of need to stop giving him that benefit of the doubt.

Again, I agree that he could have meant Biden- it is possible. But also the exact words he used were "but then they rigged the election and now we won," which is a weird way to say it if he meant Biden in 2020, and combined with the fact that he made no effort to specify 2020, or Biden, anywhere in that whole paragraph it took him to say it- I'm reminded of one reporter, Zachary Wolf, who had been covering Trump back in 2017, who said "What does he mean when he says words?" (You may remember the line from an episode of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight about Trumps copious lies)

I fully understand not wanting to possibly spread misinformation- because that's what "they" do and we don't want to feel like we're as bad as Trump supporters or fall into pulling their tactics-

But I also say it's time we stop giving him the benefit of the doubt- because look where that has gotten us.

Doublespeak and gaslighting are designed to confuse and to make you not want to call out what you hear or see because you're afraid to look stupid or "crazy", and it's also designed so that people who are afraid to make waves will default to either believing the more innocent possible meaning or ignoring the problem altogether, because it's easier than fighting back- especially when you see those around you staying silent, downplaying the harm, or even outright denying that the less-innocent meaning is even a possibility. (eg: "It's just locker-room talk" or "It's not a hitler salute- he's just awkward! He was throwing his heart to the crowd!" or "They were just tourists")

All of which only emboldens those who are engaging in the harm and their supporters because it means there are no consequences for that harm. To the point that even when there are people calling out the behavior, many people, even prominent people, it still doesn't matter- because there's just enough doubt that the supporters will happily give the benefit of said doubt and fight for them, or at very least not oppose them.

And it works so well that there's now a chance we might never have another election again.

Again, maybe he really did mean Biden and 2020. But there's also the chance, given everything we do know and have seen, that he really didn't.

Did Trump just admit to rigging the 2024 U.S. Elections????

LIVE????

ON. NATIONAL. TV??????

@drawing-dinos82

[unforth]

Actually I'm not done.

There isn't a single person among your scared friends - trans people, immigrants and children of immigrants, Jews, Muslims, people of color, the disabled, the list goes on - who will benefit from reassurance to the flavor of "don't worry it wasn't ~actually~ a sieg heil." Whether it was or not (it was) is moot, and "well actually"ing it isn't comforting.

Tell me you'll fight for me and people like me.

Tell me you'll stand up when they come for your neighbors.

Tell me you'll fight in whatever way you can - with words, deeds, money, there are so many ways - against this fascism.

Tell me you care that we're terrified for our lives.

Tell me you recognize this has happened before and you'll do your part to try to keep it from happening again, because it absolutely can happen again.

People defending this have already failed the first test. They are quibbling the semantics of Elon Musk throwing a Nazi salute instead of using their energy to do literally anything else.

Stand by my side or get the fuck out of my way.

Today my hobby is insta-recognizing A Certain Video and then scrolling as fast as possible.

I've seen it twice.

I do not need to see it again.

Elon Musk isn't just a Nazi, he's a Nazi so brazen that he feels no need to hide it, and he's right, because he's gotten away with it with no consequences.

I feel sick.

Also - blocking people defending it or offering alternative explanations. I don't want to hear it. Excusing this, as the country seems to have collectively done, will cost lives, and the people who refuse to see it and are excusing it clearly just don't care because they're sure it won't be their lives. Well, I'm Jewish, my kids are Jewish, my mom is Jewish, sorry but I don't have the fucking luxury to pretend this isn't deadly serious.

[penguicorns-are-cool]

Just want to point out cause the rebloggers seem to think otherwise, OP is in fact Jewish and has been posting about antisemitism from a Jewish perspective and is also generally pro ADL other than this post

Also Elon Musk has done more than enough stuff with visiting Auschwitz and making public statements against antisemitism and all that to have enough plausible deniability that all his fans (including the Jewish ones) are very more than willing to accept that it’s a mistake. and guys, Elon musk does have a lot of Jewish fans. Like go find your right wing Jewish friends and ask them what they think of Elon Musk, I dare you

Like my friend says her Dad hates his boss at the ADL for how much he likes Elon Musk

I would like to believe they have a plan for this too and this isn’t gonna effect them being my number one source for antisemitism statistics in the US and all that, but I don’t have much faith in this tweet being part of a greater plan. The US rn has a huge problem with nazi apologists and I don’t see how more nazi apologism is gonna help with that.

Like, if they’re plan is to get everyone who does something antisemitic to say they’re against antisemitism actually without recognizing they did an antisemitism is gonna help at all

I fear that that may actually lead to more antisemitism along with a healthy dose of gaslighting about the antisemitism ever happening. Especially when it’s in the form of nazi symbolism.

Also I fear this may be part of a general right wing shift. The Jewish community in the US, (at least the parts I’m in) have been shifting right recently especially in the past year. For the Jews in the audience (not just the US ones), think of how many friends and family you have who lean towards trump because “he’s good for Israel” like I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard “I mean yeah he’s not the best but he’s good for Israel”

Elon Musk is part of the right wing government. Maybe the ADL is trying to avoid getting their government funding cut by calling out Elon Musk. But this does make me genuinely afraid for how they’re going to continue in the future when it comes to calling out right wing figures for antisemitism. If we’re starting off the term with letting Elon musk get away with a Nazi salute and the increased censorship across social medias after Tik tok ban, I have genuine concerns for the next four years because I don’t see how this doesn’t go downhill from here

Guys, it’s been one day of trump and the ADL is already being a nazi apologist for Elon musk

Guys... the ADL said, and I quote (quoting manually because fuck nazi twitter I'm not embedding it and I can't be arsed to screencap, google for confirmation if you want),

"This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety. It seems that

@elonmusk

made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge. In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead."

Bull. Fucking. Shit. That was a nazi salute, done to the crowd and then a second time to the flag. By a guy who's said a lot of antisemitic shit and sympathized with/endorsed nazis up to and including AfD in Germany.

The Usual Suspects are eating this up and talking about how this proves people talking about "antisemitism" are just trying to defend Israeli war crimes and don't care about Diaspora Jews.

You've seen the stuff I reblog; we're in a "broken clock sorta right twice a day" situation. While I disgree with them strongly on a lot of things (far more than I did sixteen months ago), I think they're right about one thing here.

We can't trust the ADL anymore. If they refuse to acknowledge Musk's fucking sieg heil, we cannot rely on them to reliably fight antisemitism anymore.

I understand why they may feel the need to make compromises to have continued access to the halls of power and avoid being institutionally attacked... but while those compromises may protect them it leaves those they exist to protect high and dry.

Stay safe everyone.

[box-in-a-cage]

I don't even know where to start with this... this is exactly why I called flying off the handle about the ADL "knee-jerk reactionary conspiracy theorist" behavior. Not everything that happens is about Israel or Zionism.

But ok. So you've pre-decided that this is about Israel and Zionism (Zionism isn't bad by the way. It's not just Jewish Fascism or something.) I suppose you can decide that since Elon Musk has visited Israel and stuff, but you don't have to come to that conclusion. We do not have evidence that that is the cause of the ADL's decision to not call Musk's Nazi salute a Nazi salute. My personal take is that the ADL is trying to not get on the bad side of one of the most powerful, most vindictive men in the USA right now and are choosing to let other people handle this in favor of addressing other issues that they can better handle. People are already upset about Elon's sieg heil shit so maybe they feel like they can focus their attention elsewhere. I don't know. But that's what it feels like to me. But we don't have evidence for or against your position or my position. Think what you like, I suppose.

But let me be straight with you about AOC: I am calling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez antisemitic. I am doing that. I'm not "smearing" her. She's engaging in antisemitic behavior by immediately upon the ADL getting something wrong accusing them of dual loyalty (a common antisemitic canard as you appear to be aware). She is engaging in antisemitic behavior by the way that she has turned on the ADL. She says they're not to be trusted. She said, "People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now." ANY SORT. Even antisemitism outside of this. She is casting discredit upon this organization for everything they are doing and have ever done because of this. A non-Jewish person like AOC calling a pro-Jewish institution wholly untrustworthy like this is itself a problem to me.

And furthermore, you're saying the ADL is supporting the current administration? Explain this to me.

This is the ADL directly opposing Trump and his admin's decisionmaking. That is not what """working for them""" looks like to me.

And let me be even further straight with you: I think that you deciding that the ADL's actions vis-a-vis Elon Musk's Nazi salute are because of Israel is antisemitic. I think you see a Jewish organization get something wrong and think it must have ulterior Israel-based motivations. Consider this for me: If the ACLU came out and was like, "Elon didn't do a Nazi salute", same exact statement as the ADL made, would you also think they were doing so because of Israel?

dimwit leftists will really cheer on AOC for telling the singular prominent organization that opposes antisemitism "You are not to be trusted. You work for them." and still think themselves such good sweet kind allies to jews