Whyever did Musk go all Dr. Strangelove?
Mainstream press, trying to be balanced, write off the Nazi salute as unintentional, the awkward misstep of over-enthusiasm.
But twice?
Let’s shake it off for a moment (Sheesh!) and go to our tried‑and‑true sources of internet wisdom:
- Hackwhackers lists a few social media posts about the inauguration, beginning with a reminder that many of us devoted the day to honoring a much better man.
Today, honor a King, not a Felon. #mlkday2025
— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 7:30 AM
- Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara praises Martin Luther King for his moral vision but condemns his politics as misguided and corrupt.
Key attack:
It’s obvious that King didn’t understand capitalism or fully grasp the moral implications of the Declaration of Independence that he so eloquently honored.Seems Dr. King was mentally deficient in his politics because he was not a rigidly anti-government, anti-regulation, libertarian enthusiast.
(Wasn’t really his fault. He did not have an essential understanding of such economic conditions as poverty.) - M. Bouffant at Web of Evil kind of semi‑celebrates as Biden orders posthumous freedom for Marcus Garvey.
- Juliet at Decoding Fox News looks to social commentary on whether Elon’s Nazi salute was genuine.
I dunno. Could be entirely accidental.
Kind of like a mime’s version of a typo.
Just a singular mishap.
A one-time mistake.Well…
Okay. Twice.Like slipping on a banana.
Then walking back and doing it again.Total accident.
- Clickbait satirist Reductress confirms the story as Elon Musk clarifies. He was NOT doing a Nazi salute. He was just performing an homage to a Nazi salute.
- An actual enthusiast liked what he saw:
Hitler-loving white nationalist Nick Fuentes on Elon Musk's salute: "That was a straight up like 'Sieg Heil',' like loving Hitler energy."
— Right Wing Watch (@rightwingwatch.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
- Dave Columbo has a word of advice about Nazi salutes and the crowds who respond with cheers:
- Julian Sanchez reviews the Musk Nazi salute, the subsequent gas-lighting, the future trolling he anticipates, and how it may ultimately become more significant.
- Elon Musk as an automotive inventor:
News Corpse brings us the latest inanity from Fox. This time, host Gerri Willis just can’t understand why the left doesn’t embrace Elon Musk.
Key reasoning (direct quote):
He’s the one who developed their favorite product in the world – the electric car! So, how can you be mad at him? - Who could be angry after his inaugural performance?
— burrland01.bsky.social (@burrland01.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 5:20 PM
- At The Onion, a confused Trump accidentally autographs the swearing‑in Bible before handing it back to Justice Roberts.
- PZ Myers has an explanation for the grand old time Trump and associates are having in the Oval: Tearing stuff down is easier than building stuff up.
- Infidel753 takes a look at Trump‑so‑far and concludes his second term will be characterized by the same pattern of bungling malevolence as the first.
- Brian Beutler does his usual analysis and finds that Trump is not only a lame duck, but a remarkably weak lame duck. He advises Democrats to act accordingly.
- Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson points to Monday’s inauguration as an entirely new Trump era, unlike his first term.
Key exclamation:
You thought getting up on Monday was rough before.James has this about right:
This is just sickening. I hope every police officer in America is paying attention. https://t.co/btwCf2ZW9U
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson) January 21, 2025
- Tommy Christopher has words for media personalities who try to whitewash Trump’s pardon for violent January 6 insurrectionists.
Key start:
Every news anchor and reporter who launders President Donald Trump’s blanket pardons by citing now-former President Joe Biden’s pardons needs to kick rocks. Pound sand. Bow their head in shame and repent. - In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson looks at responses, starting with unofficial but authoritative judicial reaction, after Trump justifies his Jan 6 pardons.
According to our misinformed new President, violence against police officers were very minor incidents.
Key minor incidents:
Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News explained that rioters wounded more than 140 officers with “firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive ‘Trump’ billboard, ‘Trump’ flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device.”The same analysis is now available in audio format, as Richardson narrates in podcast.
- tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors watches the reaction of the Fraternal Order of Police to the pardons of those who, with vicious violence, attacked so many police officers. The organization who backed the Trump campaign is mad as a whole nest of hornets.
- @whiskeywhistle98 finds the political divide in a 7 second clip.
(video is a little dark, but the dialogue provides clarity):
- driftglass reads the very short, very accurate, Trump message as police have to be reading it.
- From The Borowitz Report, El Chapo sees an opportunity for freedom, claiming that he was one of the January 6 insurrectionists trying to overthrow the US government.
Key Contrast:
El Chapo acknowledged he was a controversial figure but added, “I’m not some total maniac like Hegseth.” - Trump is threatening Canada with a 25% tariff on imports to the US. Kathy Gill, at The Moderate Voice, explains the three-phase targeted response Canada has prepared that could and should be a model for the rest of the world.
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit issues a preemptive warning. When the next wave of contagion arrives, Trump’s new orders to government agencies is to keep news of it to themselves (at least for now).
- Courtesy of Scotties Playtime, Bill Burr (Gotta love the name!) and Jon Stewart hilariously dismantle lies about Los Angeles fires:
- The 14th Amendment is clear as crystal. Straight up: People born in the US are citizens.
Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger points out the obvious. Blinded by his hatred of brown and black immigrants, Mr. Trump really thinks he can change the Constitution with an Executive Order.
- Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire News Group take a podcast dive into Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton a case in which the Supreme Court may deliberately ban porn and inadvertently ban more basic rights.
Key sub-headline:
Also, we never want to hear Sam Alito say “porn” ever again. - Disaffected and it Feels So Good has a razor sharp summary of the new official attitude toward the health of those who served.
Key first order:
In one of his least remarkable actions, Trump issued a hiring and vendor freeze for the Department of Veterans Affairs. - Sarah Cooper becomes the prototypical CEO at a corporate rally explaining exciting news of record profits combined with staff cutbacks:
- The Propaganda Professor fondly wants those who voted for Trump to suffer immediately, but only to get the inevitable grief over with as soon as possible.
Key stun:
I know, I know. You didn’t think that would be part of the bargain. You only voted to make OTHER people suffer. You know, the ones who really deserve it. Refugees. Transgenders. Gays. The homeless. Ten-year-olds impregnated by their stepfathers. People like that. And above all, you wanted to “own the libs”, no matter what you had to destroy to do it. - In Ant Farmer’s Almanac, J.D. Vance, informed of his new duties, is eager to get started.
- Frances Langum has a frustrated Trump wanting to punish Comcast because Seth Meyers makes jokes that hurt his feelings.
Seth has a pointed suggestion.
Pointed… - Right Wing Watch at a prayer service attended by Trump watch an Episcopal bishop ask for mercy on behalf of gay, lesbian, and transgender people, immigrants, and refugees.
Christian Nationalists, of course, attack the bishop. Seems she violated Christian protocol by invoking Jesus and kindness and mercy.
- At Juanita Jean’s, El Jefe has video and commentary as that same religious leader speaks truth about immigrants and the words of Christ. Trump, of course, later responds with posts filled with over‑the‑top rage.
- Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged has what may be the best reaction to the Presidential reaction to the bishop who dared preach Jesus to Trump, and the best title: Show Me Where on this Body of Christ the Gospel Hurt You.
- North Carolina pastorJohn Pavlovitz urges us to resist the temptation, even inadvertently, to endorse Trump cruelty for the sake of cruelty as normal politics or policy.
Key refusal:
Let the record show that my faith would not allow me to fall in line behind this godless, joyless, loveless man while so many professed religious people did; that I saw nothing resembling Jesus in him, and that to declare him Christian would have been to toss aside everything I grew up believing faith manifested in a life. - In The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, Bruce begins with this:
I have listened to several podcasts and read blog posts by Christian apologists asserting that people who leave Christianity are weak; that if they had more character, backbone, and strength they would have remained Christians.
Bruce then takes on my Christian brethren with remarkable patience.
- The Journal of Improbable Research finds two experiments in which researchers approximate mathematical constants, like π by using Minecraft and an actual shotgun blast.
- Due to a misunderstood order, SilverAppleQueen and her cats unexpectedly have lots and lots of firewood. Lots!
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