Steve Bannon denies Nazi salute allegations, calls gesture a simple wave

Saturday 22 February 2025 - 15:40

Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist for Donald Trump, has strongly denied accusations that he made a Nazi salute at a conservative gathering in Maryland. The incident took place during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where Bannon raised his right arm with his palm facing outward while urging the crowd to "fight, fight, fight."

This gesture quickly caught the attention of the public, drawing criticism for its resemblance to the salute used by Nazis and their allies during World War II. However, Bannon responded to reporters, clarifying that it was "a wave like I do all the time" and that he performs this motion to express gratitude to the crowd at the end of his speeches.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism and hate, condemned the gesture in a post on X, noting Bannon’s history of promoting antisemitism and extremism. The ADL emphasized that while they were not surprised by the gesture, they remained concerned about the normalization of such behavior.

In response to the incident, Jordan Bardella, the president of the far-right French political party National Rally, canceled his planned speech at CPAC, citing the gesture as a reference to Nazi ideology. Bannon fired back at Bardella, calling him "unworthy to lead France."

This controversy comes on the heels of a similar situation involving Elon Musk, another Trump advisor, who received criticism for a gesture he made at a Washington D.C. event celebrating the president's inauguration. Experts later concluded that Musk’s gesture, which resembled a Nazi salute, was simply an awkward moment of enthusiasm and not intended as a political statement.

In both instances, extremist groups and analysts stressed the importance of scrutinizing such gestures to understand their intent, while the ADL reaffirmed that neither Bannon nor Musk's actions should be automatically interpreted as supporting Nazi ideology.