Plausible Deniability

Did you see it?

There is a big discussion over what Musk did at the end of his speech and that is where plausible deniability comes in.

Elon Musk’s gesture has drawn comparisons to Roman salutes by right-wing fans. But, what exactly is one?
The salute became popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries in artworks and theatre performances, showing Romans saluting as a way of greeting each other
The Independent
By Gustaf Kilander
21 January 2025

Elon Musk has been slammed online after his gesture at Trump’s inauguration was compared to a “Nazi salute.” However, some of his biggest fans rushed to his defense calling it a Roman salute and trying to downplay the connection to World War II Germany.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO dismissed the comparison to the Nazi and wrote on X that his critics “need better dirty tricks.”

“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” he added.

During the 2024 campaign, Musk joined forces with President Donald Trump, helping him win by donating more than $250 million to the efforts to get Trump elected. Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and renamed it X, faced widespread backlash for seemingly mimicking a Nazi salute multiple times during his appearance in Capital One Arena in downtown Washington.

And his comments afterward leave little doubt that this was plausible deniability… oh it was only a Roman salute, un hun… do you know who also used the so called Roman salute? Gee… it was the Nazis. I say so called Roman salute because,

The salute, also known as the Roman salute, involves putting your arm forward with fingers together and your palm downwards. It’s alleged to have been used in ancient Rome, but there’s no Roman text that describes the salute. In the 1930s and 1940s, it became associated with the Nazi party in Germany.

They created this lie just for one reason… plausible deniability except for one thing, last month,

Musk causes uproar for backing Germany’s far-right party ahead of key elections
AP News
December 29, 2024


Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest.

Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy.

Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag — a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary.

He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality.”

The German news outlet DW wrote…

He wrote that the nationalist party was "the last spark of hope for the country," which he claimed was teetering on the brink of "economic and cultural collapse," and that only the AfD could revive the German economy and prevent a loss of identity through a "controlled immigration policy."

"To those who condemn the AfD as extremist, I say: Don't let the label attached to it put you off," Musk wrote. "The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party's leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!"

As to the question “Does that sound like Hitler to you?” Yes it does… that are the very same issues the Hitler ran on; the economy, immigration, and :on the brink of ‘economic and cultural collapse,’” and by the way the same issues Trump ran on. This is what is called "gaslighting" trying to get you to believe what you saw wasn't true, They are still doing the gaslighting today with Jan6 insurrections, just yesterday Trump calling the convicted felons who murder and attacked the Capitol police... Hostages!

---

While we are on the topic of racism... Trump:

Trump rolls back bedrock civil rights measure in sweeping anti-DEI push

Axios

By Russell Contreras and Emily Peck

January 22, 2025

President Trump issued a sweeping executive order revoking decades of diversity and affirmative action practices in federal government.

Why it matters: This takes the current pushback on diversity, equity and inclusion into the next stratosphere — abolishing decades of government standards on diversity and equal opportunity, and seeking to crackdown on the same in the private sector.

Zoom out: Trump's order revokes one that President Johnson signed on September 24, 1965, more than two years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

• LBJ's order gave the Secretary of Labor the authority to ensure equal opportunity for people of color and women in federal contractors' recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices.
• It required federal contractors to refrain from employment discrimination and take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity "based on race, color, religion, and national origin."
• The order came more than a year after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and just months after he signed the Voting Rights Act following violent attacks on voting rights advocates in Selma, Ala.

[...]

Zoom in: Trump's order directs all "executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements."

• And it extends out to the private sector: "I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs."
• "The Federal Government is charged with enforcing our civil-rights laws.  The purpose of this order is to ensure that it does so by ending illegal preferences and discrimination."
• It goes a step further and orders federal agencies to compile lists of public companies, universities and large foundations for investigations and possible civil action over their DEI programs.

Between the lines: Close Trump allies want to dramatically change the government's interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on "anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against people of color, Axios' Alex Thompson has reported.

Question: Do you think that this fits right in with the White Christian Nationalist movement?

Now consider this...

Donald Trump was accused of racism long before his presidency, despite what online posts claim

AP News

By  PHILIP MARCELO

July 28, 2023

CLAIM: Donald Trump was never called a racist until he ran for president.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The federal government sued Trump for allegedly discriminating against Black apartment seekers in the 1970s. Black pastors also accused the New York businessman of stirring racial animus during the “Central Park Five” rape case in the 1980s. Native American groups criticized him for making derogatory remarks about tribes seeking to build casinos in the 1990s. Trump was also a leading voice of the “birther” conspiracy that baselessly claimed former President Barack Obama was from Africa and not an American citizen.

[...]

But there’s ample evidence showing that Trump has been called out for bigotry and racism throughout his decades in the public eye.

In 1973, for example, the Justice Department sued the real estate tycoon and his father for their alleged refusal to rent apartments in predominantly white buildings to Black tenants. Testimony showed that applications filed by Black apartment seekers were marked with a “C” for “colored.”

The lawsuit ended in a settlement in which the Trumps acknowledged they “failed and neglected” to comply with the Fair Housing Act, though they were never required to explicitly acknowledge discrimination had occurred. 

Then... USA Today Fact Check wrote,

The claim: Fred Trump, President Donald Trump’s father, was arrested at a KKK rally in 1927

Numerous posts to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have resurrected a claim that the president’s father was arrested during a 1927 Ku Klux Klan rally that turned violent in Queens, New York. The accusation first surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Recent posts began appearing amid nationwide protests spawned by the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25. The claim about Trump’s father gained traction after Utah Republican U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney — a frequent target of Trump’s ire — posted a photo of his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, participating in a civil rights march in Detroit in the 1960s.

[...]

Details on the incident

The information available in the New York Times article made it difficult to figure out whether Trump’s father was directly involved in the melee or was simply a bystander, falsely accused or otherwise the victim of mistaken identity during the chaotic event. There is no indication in the article that Trump’s father was a member or supporter of the KKK.

Police records are not available.

The Fact Checkers reported...

We find this claim to be PARTLY FALSE based on our research. News reports from the day show a Fred Trump was detained at a KKK rally in 1927. But there is no evidence that Trump, father to the president, was a member or supporter of the KKK. Posts that discuss simply the detention — for which there are no existing arrest records — without context are misleading.

---

What do you think about the about the salute now? A Roman salute or a Nazi salute? 

online polls

---

Update 1/23 @ 6AM

Since I wrote this the flap has gotten even bigger and so has the gaslighting!

• German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach expressed serious concern, stating the gesture "must worry every democrat" (Fox 5)
• Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a fascism historian, labeled it a "Nazi salute – and a very aggressive one" (Aljazeera)
• Kurt Braddock, a communication professor, insisted observers should trust their perceptions and that the reaction is "not trivial" (AP News)

Meanwhile the far-right is embracing it...

• White nationalist Keith Woods posted "Maybe woke really is dead" (Fox 5)
• Brian Levin emphasized that as a prominent figure, Musk's gesture "warrants an explanation" (Fox 5)

And the gaslighting continues! Plausible deniability what you saw wasn't what you saw.

---

Updated 1/23 @ 2:30PM

A friend sent me this about "Old Man Trump" but not the orange guy but his father...

I Ain't Got No Home/Old Man Trump  Woody Guthrie

Like father, like son.