The media appears not to be lambasting Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) over a one-handed gesture he gave during a speech in California on Saturday, after tech tycoon Elon Musk was accused of making a similar gesture in February, with many claiming it was a “Nazi salute.”
Newsweek on Saturday reported Booker had been speaking at a Democrat convention “ending his speech with a gesture where he put his hand over his heart, then extended his hand out to the crowd – much in the way Musk and Bannon did, though not as forcefully as Musk did it,” the outlet said, also referencing former White House strategist Steve Bannon who in February made a similar gesture and was also accused of doing a “Nazi salute.”
Walk Away Founder Brandon Straka shared side-by-side clips of Booker and Musk to highlight the similarities in their gestures.
“Same gesture. Different political party. Funny how that works,” he wrote:
The Newsweek article said San Francisco-based political commentator and former GOP mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg was the first to share the clip of Booker.
In his post, Greenberg said “Moments ago, Cory Booker salutes 4,000 CA Democrat Party delegates.”
The short video shows Booker holding his right hand over his heart before throwing it into the air and leaving the stage:
The Newsweek article turned the story around said the clip “quickly spread among MAGA-social media.”
Meanwhile, senior editor of Human Events Jack Posobiec highlighted in his post regarding the instance how the Newsweek article appeared to even nitpick when it came to how “forcefully” the outlet said Musk raised his arm:
Another social media user, Matt Van Swol, gave a list of news outlets he said had not covered Booker’s salute.
“Every single one of them wrote stories on Elon Musk’s ‘salute’ … …do you get it yet?” he wrote:
The Economic Times covered the recent story as “Watch: MAGA influencers accuse Cory Booker of Nazi-style salute, call him ‘literally Hitler,’” while the Daily Mail covered it as “Democrat senator sparks MAGA outrage after awkward hand gesture during speech in California.”
Musk made the gesture during a Trump event at Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC, after the president’s second inauguration and was accused of making a “Nazi salute,” per a Breitbart News fact check. However, the outlet found the claim to be false:
False. Musk first slapped his heart, extended his arm, and explained the gesture by saying, “My heart goes out to you.” Even the ADL has conceded the moment was “awkward” but not malevolent.
While delivering a speech celebrating President Trump’s inauguration, Musk placed his hand over his heart and then appeared to give a salute to the crowd. After extending his arm to the crowd, Musk thanked the crowd in the arena for making Trump’s presidential victory happen and said his “heart” went out to them.
Readers can watch the clip of Musk here:
However, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Musk’s defense amid false claims he did a “Nazi salute,” saying he “is a great friend of Israel,” per Breitbart News.
Following the Musk clip, Breitbart News’s John Nolte wrote, “The regime media wasted no time launching its Hoax Machine. Within hours of Donald Trump being sworn in as our 47thpresident, these disgraced and increasingly irrelevant serial liars tried to fool America into believing Elon Musk threw out a couple of Nazi salutes.”
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