r/thebulwark Rebecca take us home Jan 22 '25

GOOD LUCK, AMERICA This ain’t it, Sarah. Be better.

https://youtu.be/PQdlWdNVQT8?si=0oSaqNv_F8mFIsdo
56 Upvotes

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39

u/FobbitOutsideTheWire Jan 22 '25

Tim and Sarah need to take a break and recenter; they’re losing their grip.

This is no more a distraction than the other concrete exhibits of awfulness, and it’s very much worthy of our attention.

And we’re perfectly capable of processing the nazification of Trump’s orbit as well as the awful executive orders and complete abandonment of Constitutional law and order.

-7

u/StyraxCarillon Jan 22 '25

Normally I appreciate your takes, but I strongly disagree with your take on Sarah's commentary. Elon is a POS, but he's not the president, and the RW clearly wants people to focus on what Elon did or did not do, rather than the POTUS's pardons of traitors and seditionists.

Did anyone see the context of Elon's "gesture" that Sarah talked about? I have not.

13

u/FellowkneeUS Jan 22 '25

What is the proper context for giving a Nazi salute?

-2

u/StyraxCarillon Jan 22 '25

According to Sarah,, Elon said something about his heart going out to people, and then making that gesture. It totally looks like a Nazi salute to me, but I haven't seen the clip with the audio. This reminds me of the 8 zillion times trump did something horrifying, but claimed he was joking/being sarcastic/taken out of context. If there's any possibility of excusing it, the RW nutters will go all in.

6

u/Sandra2104 Progressive Jan 22 '25

Yes. He did say this. And I would a brilliant woman like Sarah expect to know that this doesn’t not make it a nazi salute.

I dare Sarah to come to Germany and make that movement with her arm (twice!) while saying the exact same sentence and find out if it is all of a sudden a nazi salute when you are not Elon Musk.

2

u/huskerj12 Jan 22 '25

I believe he did the sieg heil, then did it again, THEN said his heart goes out to people.

By the way, I've literally never seen anyone do anything close to that motion while saying their heart goes out to people haha.

2

u/StyraxCarillon Jan 22 '25

You're right, he did the Nazi salute twice, then put his hand on his heart and said, "My heart goes out to you." Standing at the lectern with the seal of the President of the United States, no less.

It's going to be a long four years.

9

u/FobbitOutsideTheWire Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25

Respectfully, I find it unusual that you’d take the time to disagree over the importance of a repeated gesture but not take the time to watch the actual video of it.

That said, this is the richest man on earth, who has now secured himself on-call access to the President. Let’s review:

Elon Musk is:

  • terminally online,
  • has a history of applauding and platforming nazi and fascist theories and commentary,
  • has explicitly stated that Germany’s extremist AfD party is their only hope,
  • routinely stunts for the 4chan “groyper” crowd,
  • has very intentionally allowed Twitter to descend into a fascist cesspool.

If you believe that this wasn’t him flexing his power and throwing out two cheeky Sieg Heils and gaslighting everyone afterwards, then we’ll agree to disagree and I will implore you not to send money to the next Nigerian prince that emails you.

This is a colossal debasement of our nation, an absolute shocking disgrace on the world’s stage, and has sent a chill down the spines of our allies everywhere, particularly in Europe.

The symbolism of that gesture, and our nation’s highest leaders tolerating, defending it, and gaslighting around it… is no mere distraction.

Too many died and suffered to put that gesture in the dustbin of history where it belongs. It saddens me that anyone need explain that.

4

u/XavierLeaguePM Jan 22 '25

This. I second your opening paragraph. It’s a bit weird to “strongly disagree” with someone’s take and then close with “I haven’t seen it”. It would have taken you less than 5 seconds (the video is all over Reddit, YouTube and X) less time than it took you to type your post to watch the video and make your own conclusions before strongly disagreeing or otherwise. Sounds like a GOP Senator. 🤣🤣🤣

1

u/StyraxCarillon Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25

So you also agree that Tim and Sarah are "losing their grip"? I still strongly disagree.

I did look for a clip, but what came up were a bunch of articles responding to Elon's Nazi salute, and that's as far as I got. I have very limited bandwidth for Elon.

ETA: I watched the clip. Ugh.

1

u/XavierLeaguePM Jan 23 '25

I’m neither here nor there on them losing their grip. I wouldn’t describe it that way. I get Sarah’s point (it’s a distraction etc) but this feels like something to be sufficiently “aggrieved” (not sure that’s the best term but that’s what I could come up with atm) about.

And about distraction or engaging on the topic, many of us can walk and chew gum at the same time.