Bannon made the gesture toward the end of his speech to CPAC. Image by screenshot/YouTube

By Louis Keene, Ben SalesFebruary 21, 2025

The Anti-Defamation League on Friday criticized Steve Bannon after he made a Nazi salute-like gesture during his speech at the Conservative Policy Action Conference the day before, a stark contrast to the group’s declaration that a similar salute by Elon Musk a month ago was just an “awkward gesture.”

“Steve Bannon’s long and disturbing history of stoking antisemitism and hate, threatening violence, and empowering extremists is well known and well documented by ADL and others,” the group posted on X in a statement that did not reference the gesture. “We are not surprised, but are concerned about the normalization of this behavior.” The post linked to ADL’s backgrounder on Bannon, which describes him as “a major influencer on the far right,” says that he “champions nationalists” around the world, calls him a “fierce critic of the Republican establishment and the left,” and chronicles inflammatory articles about “women, Muslims and other populations” published by Breitbart News when he was running it.

Bannon is a far-right firebrand who was a senior adviser to President Donald Trump during his first term and last year served four months in prison for contempt of Congress. He made the salute Thursday toward the end of a rambling 20-minute speech that resembled a pep rally. In the speech, he recited his usual list of grievances related to the 2020 election, called the Jan. 6 insurrection a “hoax,” attacked immigrants, lambasted the media and led a “We want Trump” chant.

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“We’re not gonna retreat, we’re not gonna surrender, we’re not gonna quit. Fight! Fight! Fight!” Bannon said, pounding his left hand on the lectern. He then lifted his right hand diagonally, briefly pointed it outward, then lowered it and gave the crowd a nod. Then he said: “Amen! God bless you. You are amazing.”

A longer clip of ~1 minute before Steve Bannon made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute/sieg heil near the end of his CPAC speech today. pic.twitter.com/pEl3NlURYx

— Louis Keene (@thislouis) February 21, 2025

Bannon said the next day that the gesture was not Nazi salute.

“No, it was a wave, it was a wave like I did all the time,” he said. “I do it at the end of all my speeches to thank the crowd.”

The use of a sieg heil-like salute has been much discussed since Musk, the billionaire leading Trump’s current effort to slash federal spending and staff, sparked controversy by raising his right arm to thank the crowd of Trump supporters at a rally on Inauguration Day. It was a gesture that many neo-Nazis celebrated, but the ADL dismissed concerns about it. When Musk responded to critics a few days later by posting a series of Holocaust puns, the ADL condemned him for it.

Todd Gutnick, the ADL’s spokesperson, did not immediately respond to an inquiry Friday afternoon about what the difference was between Musk’s salute and Bannon’s.

Online, many reacted to Bannon’s gesture by comparing it to Musk’s — whose appearance onstage at CPAC immediately preceded Bannon’s.

Here's video of Steve Bannon doing a Sieg Heil today at CPAC. It is what it is and it's what Bannon intended. Don't let yourself be gaslit. pic.twitter.com/LDT2kU43ZV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2025

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the liberal Jewish Council for Public Affairs, condemned the “Nazi-style salute” and said the gesture was “part of a broader normalization of extremism.” Earlier in the week she criticized remarks by Vice President J.D. Vance in which he rebuked German political parties for isolating the far-right party Alternative for Germany.

Bannon, a provocateur once called Breitbart “the premier website of the alt-right.” But his gesture also received a rebuke from the far right: Jordan Bardella, the president of National Rally, a French far-right party, canceled his appearance at CPAC in protest of Bannon’s gesture.

“Yesterday, while I was not present in the room, one of the speakers out of provocation allowed himself a gesture alluding to Nazi ideology,” Bardella said in a statement. “I therefore took the immediate decision to cancel my speech that had been scheduled this afternoon.”

National Rally, co-founded by a Nazi SS commander and led for decades by a man convicted of antisemitic hate speech, has worked to shed its antisemitic image and present a more approachable face to French voters as it has recently gained popularity.

Bannon lashed back at Bardella, telling a French reporter on the sidelines of the conference that Bardella was “unworthy to lead France. He’s a boy, not a man.”

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency contributed reporting.

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