Anyone aware of what is being said on left-wing social-media platforms knew this was coming. The hope that President Donald Trump’s left-wing foes were giving up on their unhinged claims that he is a fascist and bent on destroying democracy was, at best, premature. So it was hardly surprising that Elon Musk’s gesture of appreciation to applause to the crowd at an inauguration celebration was seized upon as a Nazi salute and used to justify claims that the SpaceX/Tesla CEO was showing his sympathies for fascism.
It’s true that some Silicon Valley oligarchs like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have ceased aiding and abetting the Democrat’s information operations against Trump. Not only have they made their peace with him but attended his inauguration as honored guests.
But all it took was one freeze-frame image of fellow Big Tech mogul Musk—an ardent supporter and funder of the Trump campaign, and who will serve as head of a Department of Government Efficiency—to trigger a wide range of left-wing outlets and pundits. The comments ranged from the slightly coy insinuations that Musk was dog-whistling to Nazis on CNN to what can only be described as hysteria on the left-wing social-media site Bluesky.
In Europe, Musk was also widely attacked. That was not so much out of conviction about his actual beliefs but a settling of scores. Musk angered the British establishment with his comments about their government’s failure to properly address the problem of so-called Pakistani “grooming gangs” that raped thousands of young women. His sympathy for AfD, a right-wing German political party that opposes an open-door policy toward immigrants from Muslim countries similarly has enraged those in Germany who consider it as beyond the pale.
Jewish liberals were among the loudest voices joining in the condemnations of Musk.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University who touts herself as an expert on fascism, posted: “It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one, too.” Abraham Foxman, the former longtime head of the Anti-Defamation League, chimed in claiming that it was a “Heil Hitler Nazi salute.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) went one better by claiming that it was evidence of “antisemitism.”
And predictably, some neo-Nazis crawled out of their holes to agree that Musk was indeed one of theirs, despite his claim that the accusation was nothing more than an example of Democratic “dirty tricks.”
Other reactions were not so predictable.
Attacking the ADL
Under Foxman’s successor Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL has shifted from a nonpartisan organization to just another liberal group doing the Democrats’ dirty work denouncing conservatives and often falsely defaming Trump. At least in this instance, it decided not to join the online mob spewing abuse at Musk and everyone else who supports Trump. Though worded in a manner that indicated that the group was trying to avoid angering Trump-haters, the post simply stated the obvious truth—that Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.
For this common-sense opinion, they were roundly denounced by liberal opinion as sellouts. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the leader of the left-wing congressional “Squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives, claimed that the ADL’s rather timid defense of Musk meant that not only were they “defending” Nazi symbolism but were in the employ of Nazis. According to AOC, “People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear to all.”
Yet anyone who watches the uncut video could easily see that it was the ADL—and not their critics—that was in the right. Cavorting around the stage and basking in the applause of people who consider him a hero for accomplishments in business and space, as well as for reclaiming Twitter (renamed X by Musk) for free speech. The gesture, while clearly as awkward as most of Musk’s public appearances, was one in which he tapped his heart to return the love of his fans and not something intended to convey his support for Nazi Germany.
Musk has sometimes offended Jews, but he has also repeatedly expressed support for Israel, wore a necklace in support of the hostages taken by Palestinian terrorists, denounced Hamas and visited Auschwitz. That’s a lot more than some of those who are attacking him have done. He is no antisemite.
More to the point, if gesturing in that manner with your arm is evidence of Nazism, it isn’t hard to find videos and photos of liberals caught doing the same thing. Indeed, it wasn’t long before some people started posting pictures of former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, late-night comedy show host Stephen Colbert, as well as AOC, doing what had gotten Musk into so much trouble. Accusations that they are Nazis because of that would be just as false as those hurled at Musk.
Hypocrisy on the left
To conservatives, like author and columnist David Harsanyi, the attacks on Musk were as disingenuous as Democratic accusations of fascism thrown at Trump. He replied to Nadler: “Not a single person on this planet believes Musk gave a Nazi salute.” For talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, it was just another sign of “TDS”: Trump derangement syndrome.
Hewitt is right about that. But what’s really troubling is not so much that Musk is being treated unfairly because he supports Trump. Musk often shares his opinions on a host of issues, and some of what he says is wrongheaded. But he is far too rich and powerful for any wave of left-wing outrage to have much of an impact on him, let alone result in his cancellation.
The problem this kerfuffle exposed is how willing many on the left are to weaponize charges of antisemitism against their political enemies despite not caring about the issue of Jew-hatred.
AOC has repeatedly and viciously attacked Israel. She has expressed support for Palestinian efforts to destroy it and touted antisemitic BDS campaigns. The idea that she has standing to judge the ADL or anyone else as insufficiently concerned about antisemitism is laughable.
Ben-Ghiat is equally hypocritical.
Only a few weeks after the orgy of mass murder, rape, torture, kidnapping and wanton destruction perpetrated by Hamas and other Palestinians in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, she wrote in a Substack post expressing ambivalence as to whether the attacks were terrorism or merely “a tragic outcome of a cycle of violence that started with the Israeli occupation.”
A virulent critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has falsely accused him of being an opponent of democracy and operating from the “authoritarian playbook,” Ben-Ghiat also had no trouble drawing a moral equivalence between Hamas supporters and ordinary Israelis who believe that their country must do everything in its power to eradicate the terror organization and ensure it can’t make good on its promises to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7.
The political left argues that the antisemitic mobs on college campuses and the streets of American cities chanting for the destruction of Israel (“from the river to the sea”) and for terrorism against Jews (“globalize the intifada”) are not merely defensible but expressing laudable support for human rights. It was a sentiment that Democratic politicians like Harris thought should be “heard” and validated.
Too invested in their rage
But so deep is the anger about Trump and his supporters that even people who do understand antisemitism and ought to know better, like Foxman, are now so invested in their rage about the president that they have lost their moral compass on this issue.
The political left has to believe that Musk and Trump are Nazis not so much because of anything they might have said or done. Their tunnel vision compels them to see anyone they dislike so much as not just wrong but associated with the greatest crime in the history of the world.
This is much like the viral lie about Trump saying that neo-Nazis were “very fine people” that has been debunked but which is constantly repeated by the likes of Obama, Biden and Harris for partisan reasons. It shows the left as guilty of what Israel-haters often accuse the Jewish state’s defenders of doing: cynically weaponizing antisemitism.
Like so many other fake antisemitism controversies contrived by the left, the real damage being done is not to the objects of their accusations but to the cause of fighting Jew-hatred. When people like Musk are damned as Nazis over such foolishness, the victim is the effort to call out real antisemites.
It’s no accident that those who despise Jews often get a pass from people like Harris and AOC, who rationalize and apologize for their ideological hatred of the Jewish state. Their political opponents like Trump and Musk may be flawed, but they are philo-semitic and deeply supportive of Israel. That makes it all the more urgent that they be smeared as antisemites since that’s the only way the world can make sense for those who have come to believe that anyone they don’t like is Hitler.
Anger over Trump’s remarkable political comeback on the left is likely to build, especially because he is starting his second term riding a wave of public approval and support for his stands on the issues that contrast strongly with his popularity eight years ago. But that’s no excuse for those who have done little or nothing to combat the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism to attempt a hijacking of the issue in order to undermine a pro-Israel president and his allies.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him: @jonathans_tobin.
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