When businessman Elon Musk gestured to the group at President Donald Trump’s post-inaugural march, legacy media showed it had learned nothing in the previous decade— rushing to say Musk gave a “fascist respect. ”
“Billionaire Elon Musk gave what appeared to be a fascist salute Monday while making a speech at the post-inauguration celebration for President Donald Trump at the Capital One Arena, ” the Public Broadcasting Service posted on Musk’s platform, X.
PBS claimed Musk placed his hand on his neck, “raising it in a respect that appeared similar to the ‘Sieg Heil’ used by Germans at their success gatherings. ” The perspective, but, shows Musk was thanking the audience for helping Trump’s success.
“ I just want to say thank you for making it happen, bless you, ” Musk said, placing his hand over his heart, next pointing it at the audience. “My spirit goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of society is assured. ”
Some smaller leftist outlets echoed the “fascist ” or “Nazi” framing adopted by PBS, with Politico saying that “critics are comparing ” the gesture “to a fascist salute. ” Nazism literally refers not to “fascism, ” but to the “National Socialist ” party of Germany in the 1930s and 40s. Germans were communists, no fascists.
Yet CNN stopped short of directly calling it a “Nazi” movement — good because it lost a libel suit just weeks ago. The anchors strongly implied the information, though.
“ I just want to look at that respect that he gave once, ” one outlet said.
“It was swift, ” another outlet replied. “ I think our visitors are smart, and they can take a look at that, but it definitely was — it ’s not something that you’d commonly see at British political rallies. ”
PBS is partly funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to which Congress allocated$ 535 million in the 2025 resources. But since Republicans now control the House — which controls federal funding — and Trump ( whom PBS often disparages ) has the power to execute the law, perhaps the outlet would do better to report the news instead of publishing wild accusations.
Logan Washburn is a team writer covering election integrity. He is a flower 2025 brother of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s journal assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but then lives in remote Michigan.
