A pair of CNN panelists clashed over Elon Musk's straight-arm greeting that many compared to the Nazi Sieg Heil salute.
The tech mogul performed the gesture twice during Donald Trump's post-inauguration rally last week, but he insisted later it was meant to demonstrate that his "heart goes out" to fellow MAGA supporters. Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell placed that action into context with Musk's apparent sympathies toward fascist ideology.
"Look, the first time that Elon Musk decides to declare that 'globalist' Jews are responsible for the great replacement of brown people into the United States, maybe it was a misunderstanding," Rampell said. "You know, the second time he said that Jews are pushing hatred against white people — that's a quote — you know, that was a little iffy.
"By the second Sieg Heil, I think he kind of loses the benefit of the doubt to be not accused of playing footsie with these Nazis. I'm not saying he's a Nazi, I'm saying the Nazis think he's a Nazi, which they very clearly did at this event, and these words were not said in a vacuum.
"As you pointed out, the leaders of [Germany's right-wing party] AfD have embraced, in many cases, the Nazi heritage. They have wanted to take down the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, saying it is inappropriate to recognize this horrific chapter in German history, and I just think it's horrific. I don't understand why this guy keeps getting the benefit of the doubt, whether or not he believes this stuff."
"NewsNight" host Abby Phillip also mentioned the Nazi jokes Musk has been making on his X platform before turning to the network's resident conservative and Donald Trump fan, Scott Jennings, who she noticed had been sighing through Rampell's remarks.
“We’ve moved on from Trump derangement syndrome to Elon derangement syndrome,” Jennings said, and then complained as Rampell tried to interject. “Anybody who is asserting this thing he did on the stage the other day was a Sieg Heil, which I just heard you say, you know, lawyer up maybe because — absolute ridiculous thing to say.”
Rampell reiterated that Nazis in Germany thought it was a Sieg Heil, as Jennings argued it was simply a gesture of enthusiasm.
So she threw down the gauntlet.
“Why don’t you do it on TV right now?" she said. "Why don’t you do it on TV right now if you think it’s so, so banal?”
Jennings did not accept her challenge, and insisted he had been "the strongest supporter of the Jewish people on this network" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. Rampell demanded that he return back to the topic at hand instead of changing the subject to campus antisemitism.
"That is bull, that is bull, that is bull," Rampell said. "I am a Jew who has criticized the people on college campuses for saying antisemitic things. I will go on the record as saying that I am also criticizing this man who, a day or two before Holocaust Remembrance Day, makes light of this moment, this horrific moment in German history, the reason why Germans remember this ... I want you to address what we are talking about here, because you can talk all day about college campuses, but Elon Musk, two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day, went and spoke in front of a far-right party that, as part of their platform, wants to atone, they want to erase the idea that Germany is responsible for this."
Jennings insisted he didn't "know anything about German politics” and complained that Democrats had called Republicans "fascist" during last year's election campaign. Phillip asked whether he was really “putting it all on the line for the AfD.”
“I can’t believe that you are defending this,” Rampell said to Jennings.
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