Trump: Impeach is the new Orange

[Raid]

[Wrathbone]

I’d like to say I’m surprised, but Nazi salutes are about what I expect from them now. Trump’s speech was utterly vile too.

[Stormbringer]

I'm not so sure that's a Nazi salute. I feel that's a case of detractors seeing what they want to see.

Of course people will look at a freeze frame and read into it what they want, but in the context of what he says when he makes that gesture: "My heart goes out to you!", he's thanking the electorate for voting for Trump, and he's making a gesture of throwing his heart out to the crowd.

[eny]

Nah.

[Sly Boots]

Muskolini

[Wrathbone]

I'm not so sure that's a Nazi salute. I feel that's a case of detractors seeing what they want to see.

Of course people will look at a freeze frame and read into it what they want, but in the context of what he says when he makes that gesture: "My heart goes out to you!", he's thanking the electorate for voting for Trump, and he's making a gesture of throwing his heart out to the crowd.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

[Raid]

I'm not so sure that's a Nazi salute. I feel that's a case of detractors seeing what they want to see.

I disagree, the straight right arm upwards at an angle with palm down, is the definition of a Nazi salute. His supporters can call it a Roman salute all they want, it's so closely linked to fascism that it would have gotten him arrested if he'd done it in Germany.

[Wrathbone]

The Nazis took their own salute from the Roman salute. Musk isn’t the intellectual he pretends to be but he’s not an idiot - this isn’t something you can plausibly feign ignorance about.

The real question is, does this mean he sympathises with Nazi ideals (or worse, supports them)? I’d previously have said no, even for him that’s a stretch, but I’m also a proponent of the idea that when someone shows you who they really are, believe them.

[Stormbringer]

The position of the arm and fingers are certainly strange.

If I was doing a 'throw out my heart to the crowd' gesture, I'd use both hands, and have my palms roughly 45° upwards, with the fingers spread wide.

[Stormbringer]

I'm not one to defend the guy, but it is going to be -5c at its warmest. It's probably better that it's moved inside, he'd have a legitimate excuse for why his crowd was tiny if it had been held outdoors.

Another reason for the indoor inauguration might be to prevent further assassination attempts; a bit harder for would-be assassins to hide inside a controlled interior environment like that.

[Stormbringer]

The Nazis took their own salute from the Roman salute. Musk isn’t the intellectual he pretends to be but he’s not an idiot - this isn’t something you can plausibly feign ignorance about.

The real question is, does this mean he sympathises with Nazi ideals (or worse, supports them)? I’d previously have said no, even for him that’s a stretch, but I’m also a proponent of the idea that when someone shows you who they really are, believe them.

Yeah, now that I see it again, I think y'all are right.



Whether or he is identifying as a Nazi-supporter, or copying the Roman "Hail Caesar", the implication is that "Trump is Caesar"...and that's not a good sign on so many levels.

[Sly Boots]

The Nazis took their own salute from the Roman salute. Musk isn’t the intellectual he pretends to be but he’s not an idiot - this isn’t something you can plausibly feign ignorance about.

The real question is, does this mean he sympathises with Nazi ideals (or worse, supports them)? I’d previously have said no, even for him that’s a stretch, but I’m also a proponent of the idea that when someone shows you who they really are, believe them.

I think with Musk's whole "I'm a gamer like you, honest" thing, it shows he's basically an insecure man-child who just wants everybody to like him, I wouldn't be surprised if this salute was less about his own beliefs and more about pandering to the right-wing elements on social media he loves to appeal to.

[Wrathbone]

Not that it necessarily has any direct impact on Musk himself, but his grandfather was a piece of work too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_N._Haldeman

From 1936 to 1941, he was involved in Howard Scott's Technocracy Incorporated, which led to his arrest on October 8, 1940 in Vancouver by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a charge of membership in an illegal organization. Technocracy Incorporated had been banned in Canada following the start of World War II since the organization was deemed subversive to the war effort.

Haldeman's son-in-law Errol Musk claimed in 2024 that Haldeman sympathized with Nazi Germany during World War II.

During that era, Haldeman formally made statements discouraging the previously prevalent antisemitism in the party. However, he also gave a speech defending a decision by a party newspaper to publish the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an antisemitic fabrication claiming an International Jewish conspiracy to rule the world. In his speech, Haldeman said “that the plan as outlined in these protocols has been rapidly unfolding in the period of observation of this generation.” He would later claim apartheid South Africa was leading “White Christian Civilization” against the “International Conspiracy” of Jewish bankers and the “hordes of Coloured people” he claimed they controlled.

Haldeman was a supporter of South Africa's apartheid policies and the ruling National Party of South Africa, telling a reporter for the Die Transvaler newspaper: “Instead of the Government’s attitude keeping me out of South Africa, it had precisely the opposite effect—it encouraged me to come and settle here”. In 1951, he wrote an article about South Africa for the Saskatchewan newspaper, the Regina Leader-Post, defending apartheid and writing of Black South Africans: “The natives are very primitive and must not be taken seriously... Some are quite clever in a routine job, but the best of them cannot assume responsibility and will abuse authority. The present government of South Africa knows how to handle the native question.”

In later life, he self-published two books alleging international conspiracies: The International Conspiracy to Establish a World Dictatorship and the Menace to South Africa (1960) and "The International Conspiracy in Health", which cast suspicion on fluoridation, vaccinations, and health insurance.

[arqueturus]

This is going to be a long 4 years.

[Hatredsheart]

This is going to be a long 4 years.

True,never been so glad I don't live in the USA. Interesting Times indeed.