CNN contributor Scott Jennings condemned critics who said Elon Musk’s straight arm salute was intended to be a Sieg Heil – but then refused to perform the gesture himself on live television.
The billionaire, who is cementing himself as a mainstay in President Donald Trump’s inner circle, has been slammed since proudly thumping his chest and shooting his right hand to the sky – twice – at Trump’s post-inauguration rally last Monday.
After rushing to the defense of Trump’s First Buddy, Jennings was challenged byWashington Post columnist Catherine Rampell on NewsNight Monday evening, a date marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“I don’t understand why this guy keeps getting the benefit of the doubt, whether or not he believes this stuff, personally,” Rampell said of Musk, who noted she was the only Jew around the table.
Interjecting, Jennings claimed that Musk’s critics are suffering from a progression of Trump Derangement Syndrome – a disease manufactured by the Republican’s campaign team in which a person abandons all logic and reason due to their dislike of the president.
“We’ve moved on from Trump derangement syndrome to Elon derangement syndrome,” the former GOP strategist retorted.
“So, he has a long record of supporting the Jewish people, number one. Number two, anybody who is asserting this thing he did on the stage the other day was a Sieg Heil, which I just heard you say… lawyer up maybe because, [it’s an] absolute[ly] ridiculous thing to say.”
“Why don’t you do it on TV right now?” the columnist responded abruptly, which Jennings rejected.
“This salute trutherism is outrageous. This is the most…,” he said, before Rampell exploded: “So do it right now on TV!”
Jennings wrote off the rumors swirling around Musk as mere conspiracy theories, prompting Rampell for him to repeat her request to mimic the gesture on television, before host Abby Phillip was forced to intervene.
The CNN contributor’s denial surrounding the so-called Nazi salute mirrors Musk’s own defense.
Musk, who recently made a virtual appearance at Germany’s far-right AFD party’s campaign launch, claimed hours after his post-inauguration address that “they” need “better dirty tricks,” adding that comparing MAGA loyalists to the leader of the Third Reich is “so tired”.
It comes as a local Pennsylvania official resigned from her position on the board of supervisors after posting a TikTok video of herself repeating Musk’s “salute.”
In a now-deleted video, Laura Smith, the former vice chair of the Towamencin Township Board of Supervisors, thumped her chest three times before extending her hand and arm out in front of her.
“Just checking in on my friends who are struggling this week. My heart goes out to you. Hope you’re doing ok,” Smith, a Republican, said mirroring Musk’s own statement in the video.
