Did Steve Bannon flash a Nazi salute at CPAC?

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Get our free Inside Washington email

Did right-wing podcaster and Donald Trump’s former White House strategist Steve Bannon flash a quickie Nazi salute during his speech Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)?

Countless observers sure thought so.

It wasn’t the defiant in-your-face salute tech billionaire Elon Musk hammered home in a speech honoring Trump the day of the president’s inauguration.

open image in gallery

Bannon’s gesture was a fast flash of a stiff arm off to the side. The motion had no other obvious reason.

He whipped out the salute after he emphatically urged the CPAC audience in Natioanal Harber, Maryland to “fight, fight, fight.” When it drew applause, Bannon made a quick nod and responded: “Amen.”

Bannon said leaders like Trump come along twice in history.

Joshua Reed Eakle, president of the Project Liberal organization, declared in a response to a clip on X: “Nazism has officially taken over the GOP.”

“This is Trump’s America,” noted a post on X by grassroots political group Really American.

Far-right white nationalist Nick Fuentes characterized both Musk’s and Bannon’s gestures as a “Roman salute.” Nevertheless, he called it “sick” on his podcast Thursday, adding: “It’s getting a little uncomfortable even for a guy like me!”