In an infuriating moment on Monday, January 20, CNN tried jumping feet-first into its coverage of President Donald Trump’s second administration by finding yet another way of smearing Trump with accusations he is like Hitler and America under him is like Germany’s Third Reich. That came when CNN pushed the hoax that Elon Musk was trying to do a Nazi salute before Trump’s inauguration.
The incident at hand came when Elon, giving a speech to an adoring crowd, said that he would be the country’s “first buddy.” He then, to show that, reached his right hand in toward the left-center of his chest, where his heart is, and pretended to grab his heart and throw it out to the crowd to symbolize his love for them.
As he did so, pretending to throw his love to the crowd, he extended his right arm, with his palm facing the ground. He sad, as he made that move, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured. We’re going to have safe cities, secure borders, sensible spending, basic stuff, and we’re going to take DOGE to Mars.”
As could be expected, but was disappointing regardless, CNN tried claiming that the incident showed Elon was a Nazi and so the Trump Administration was as well. That began when CNN’s Erin Burnett and Kasie Hunt then interrupted Musk’s remarks on the network to discuss his “odd looking salute.” Hunt, commenting on it, said, “Yes, that salute was evocative of things that we have seen throughout history and of course we do want to bring it up to be able to take a little bit of a closer look.” She also said that Musk has gotten involved with Germany’s “far-right party.”
The clip then played of Elon making the gesture, after Burnett said,“This crowd, every single person here is paying attention and they are fully engaged. He is a hero to them,” and CNN’s Kassie Hunt, ridiculously commenting on it, said, “I just want to look at that salute that he gave again. Just if anybody missed it, we’ll just show it again. He’s just wrapped up here. You can hear the…So we just, we just showed that. We just showed that.”
Responding, Burnett noted, hinting that such a gesture was really a Nazi salute and as such beyond the pale for an American political rally, said, “It was quick. I think our viewers are smart and they can take a look at that, but it certainly was. It’s not something that you typically state American political rallies.”
Hunt, chiming back in to similarly fear monger about Elon, said, “When you put it that way, no, no. It was not something that you usually would see. And it was quick, as you point out. It was very quick, but it was, it was in a moment of intensity for him as he came out dancing, and then he did that. He is a hero here.” Watch them here:
CNN was slammed for its absurd accusations. The “Media Lies” X account, for example, hammered CNN for grasping as straws to lie about the Trump Administration. It wrote, “CNN is accusing Elon Musk of doing a Nazi salute on stage. Full context shows Elon was gesturing that his heart goes out to the crowd. They’re grasping at straws today.”
Musk chimed in as well. Responding in a quote tweet on X to a post about CNN using this “dirty trick” to attack him, the billionaire founder and CEO wrote that their hysteric attacks and smears are getting tired and ignored. He said, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired.” Even the Anti-Defamation League noted that CNN’s attacks were absurd, writing, “It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.”
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