If It Looks Like a Nazi & Quacks Like a Nazi...

... then it's probably a Nazi.

Hi,

It’s not even been week since the inauguration and I can already feel reality slipping. Let me try and explain where my head is at.

Ever since 2016 — with Donald Trump’s cries of “fake news” — the line between what is real and what is not has become increasingly blurred. At some point, truth and reality became up for debate, which is how we landed in the whole QAnon mess which Webworm tirelessly documented for over two years.

The proliferation of AI imagery and video hasn’t helped. I’ve written at length about the AI slop confusing our parents, and how that directly funnels into a whole secondary domain of horrible shit including animal torture videos.

Those controlling the technology are not helping. Take “Faithful”, a verified Facebook page based out of Romania with 1.1 million followers that mostly spits out AI images of children with amputated limbs (to elicit sympathy views) or animals made out of bread (catnip for boomers):

In the days of yore, you’d think scam pages would be kicked into oblivion. But here in 2025, as reported by 404Media, Mark Zuckerberg himself — along with 2.6 million others — clicked “Like.”

To be more specific, he “Loved” it, which takes two more clicks than just “liking” something.

With all this in mind, back to my earlier point. Reality is slipping.

I was wrong when I said that. It isn’t slipping. It’s slipped.

Not only has it slipped — but we’re actively embracing the slip.

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The Slip

We’re in another place now where, for whatever reason, humans are actively choosing to embrace the slip en masse, putting all critical thinking skills aside and cowering to the system we find ourselves trapped in.

And that brings us to Elon Musk’s Nazi salute. His two Nazi salutes.

Here is a video of the first one.

Here is a video of the second one.

Another clue it was a Nazi salute? Nazis really liked it, Rolling Stone reporting:

“Right-wing extremists, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis are celebrating an alarming gesture made by the world’s richest man.”

If a Nazi says it looks like a Nazi and Quacks like a Nazi… it’s probably a Nazi.

It was a very clear gesture — something that, you’d hope, we could all agree on. But of course we couldn’t. What was particularly striking is that journalists also seemed incapable of calling it out. This is the New York Times:

Here is New Zealand’s Radio New Zealand:

I did watch it, and it was a Nazi salute. You know, that thing Hitler did.

Parker Molloy’s excellent The Present Age newsletter offers up some clues to why this collective gaslighting was happening in the media, writing:

“We’re living in a media environment where the truth has become nearly impossible to state directly. A billionaire can make a gesture that neo-Nazis celebrate as explicitly supporting their cause, and major news organizations feel compelled to describe it as “exuberant” rather than risk saying what it actually appeared to be.

Context matters here. This isn’t just some random rich guy making an awkward wave. This is someone who has tweeted agreement with an antisemitic conspiracy theories and recently allied himself with the far-right AfD party in Germany.

The irony is that by trying to avoid defamation suits, news organizations end up participating in a kind of mass gaslighting. We all saw what we saw. The neo-Nazis celebrating it saw what they saw. But major media outlets are forced to pretend otherwise, eroding trust in journalism and making it harder for the public to understand what's actually happening.

Democracy dies in the shadow of lawsuits that prevent us from turning on the lights”

In short: Elon Musk is incredibly rich and could sue the shit out of any media outlet he liked. And Jeff Bezos — cozied up up to Trump and Musk at the inauguration — owns The Washington Post, so perhaps it’s no surprise a Nazi salute turned into an “inauguration salute”:

Elon Musk is not operating in a vacuum either, which brings me to my main point: If it looks like a Nazi and quacks like a Nazi then it’s probably a Nazi.

Which brings us to the quacking.

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“Multiculturalism […] Dilutes Everything.”

“There is too much control from global elites,” Musk quacked yesterday at a German far right campaign event:

Elon Musk made a surprise appearance during Germany’s AfD (Alternative fuer Deutschland) election campaign event in Halle in eastern Germany on Saturday, speaking publicly in support of the far right party for the second time in as many weeks.

I watched a video of the event this morning, as Musk beamed in via video link to an exuberant crowd.

“I wanted to really say that I am very excited for the AfD. And I think you are really the best hope for Germany.”

“Something that I just think is just very important is that people take pride in Germany and being German. This is very important. It’s okay to be proud to be German. This is a very important principle.”

There are cheers.

“There is frankly too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that. Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents — or let alone their parents, their great grandparents maybe even!”

The next bit receives a huge cheer.

“It’s good to be proud of German culture and German values and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.

Oh.

“Fight for a great future for Germany! Fight for a great future for Germany!”

Quack quack.

I am writing this today because I am trying to process what the fuck is going on.

Five days ago, White Nationalist Group the Proud Boys marched in Washington DC. This followed president Donald Trump pardoning 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the January 6 attack on the Capitol — which included commutations for 14 far-right extremists from the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

Imagine being the leader of a White Nationalist group who was serving a 22 year prison sentence. Then Donald Trump becomes president and sets you free.

If four years ago you were already loyal enough to take up Trump’s urge to attack the capital — what will you be willing to do for the man who just set you free?

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio of Florida. Was serving a 22 year sentence - now free.

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All of this is so clear: if walks like a Nazi and it quacks like a Nazi then it’s probably a Nazi. And yet it’s not clear at all, because we’re done with reality.

Reality has not only slipped — we’re actively embracing the slip.

Over on my Instagram page — the last piece of social media I felt like I had nurtured to be semi-sane — is anything but:

“Fabiano” — probably a fucking bot — filled up the comments with stuff like this:

Let’s stop and look at that for a second. Let’s let reality back in for a moment.

The idea that every Democratic leader in recent memory also loved throwing Hitler salutes spread like wildfire, screenshots from various events used as evidence:

Newsweek painstakingly explained the context for all those stills, referencing the video and movement of each leader involved:

Kamala Harris’s photo was screengrabbed from the 2019 South Carolina Democratic Party Convention in Columbia, S.C. Harris can be seen in footage available online, repeatedly pointing in the air to her side as she criticized President Donald Trump. Her movement bore no convincing similarity to fascist symbology or the gesture Musk made.

Elizabeth Warren’s photo is a screengrab from footage of the 2016 Democratic National Convention. As the footage shows, Warren waved, clapped, and gestured to the crowd, as she thanked “Massachusetts for the great honor of serving you as your Senator.”

The photo of Obama, captured by AFP photographer Saul Loeb in January 2010, was from a Republican GOP House Issues Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Footage of the event is available on YouTube. Obama makes a gesture similar to the photo around halfway through the conference while discussing healthcare.

Context is everything.

Me stretching out my left arm five minutes ago — sore from too much typing — is not a Sieg Heil.

Context is everything.

I’m also pretty positive those leaders (as deeply flawed as they are) were not out there preaching the message that “multiculturalism dilutes everything”.

But course none of that matters.

Somehow we’ve actively chosen to disregard reality — and celebrate everything that isn’t.

Why? Because that makes being racist and hateful so much easier.

America is fucking terrifying right now, and all I can think to do to stay sane is to talk about it. Somehow, that feels like we’re — for a brief moment — back in reality, stopping the slip.

David.