Last year, the media and the Democratic Party launched a coordinated assault on Elon Musk after he made a harmless gesture of support to the audience at Trump's second inauguration.
Elon Musk was speaking at the event when he told the crowd, “And I just want to say thank you for making it happen. Thank you.” He then extended his right hand from his heart toward the audience, repeated the gesture for those behind him, and added — after placing his hand over his heart — “Thank you. My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured, thanks to you.”
The media insisted that he’d given a Nazi salute. The whole narrative was a hoax from the start. Rather than admit they were wrong, the left doubled down, weaponizing the lie to undermine Trump's second term.
Stephen Colbert piled on during his now-canceled late-night show, sneering, "Wow, that sure looked like what it was." He went on, "Now, I don't know if Musk intended to do a Nazi salute. He says he is not a Nazi, but what I do know is people who aren't Nazis know how to avoid doing a Nazi salute." Even Snopes refused to debunk the claim, despite positioning itself as an objective fact-checker. When Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) made the same gesture, the media bent over backward to explain how subtle differences made his gesture okay, but Musk’s was not.
The smear campaign continued long after the Anti-Defamation League publicly confirmed Musk's gesture was not a Nazi salute.
Not even after multiple Democrats were caught making the exact same gesture did the media or the Democratic Party admit they were lying about Musk. They just wanted an excuse to attack him for supporting Trump and, in their minds, for helping him win.
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The fake controversy had real consequences, too. Vandals defaced Tesla vehicles with swastikas and attacked dealerships, all over a lie.
Now comes the latest proof that the left never believed its own accusations. New York City's newly inaugurated mayor, Zohran Mamdani, gave the same gesture Musk did during his swearing-in.
Can’t believe NYC voted in a Nazi mayor
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) January 2, 2026
pic.twitter.com/f0jtjpeIIc
Not a peep from the left.
Under the standards they applied to Musk's "give my heart to you" gesture, Mamdani's raised arm would also qualify as a Nazi salute. But there is no outrage, no panic, no breathless coverage.
Here’s a list of all the news networks who have not covered Zohran Mamdani’s salute:
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) January 2, 2026
- NYTimes
- CNN
- Washington Post
- MSNBC
- NPR
- USA Today
- Reuters
- Axios
- ABC News
Every single one of them wrote stories on Elon Musk’s “salute”…
…do you get it yet? pic.twitter.com/sCPWPdqTF1
Musk should sue every single media outlet that defamed him.
In truth, neither Musk, Booker, nor Mamdani can credibly be accused of making a Nazi salute. The left and its media allies weaponized the accusation against Musk because they wanted to destroy him, not because they believed it. Boycotts, investigations, and wall-to-wall negative coverage portrayed Musk as a Nazi, while Booker, Mamdani, and countless other Democrats got a pass. The dispute was never about genuine concern over Nazi symbolism. It was about using selective outrage as a political weapon against ideological opponents. The media's silence on Mamdani proves it.
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