After watching CNN anchors Erin Burnett and Kasie Hunt all but call SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk a Nazi, one thing was glaringly evident. CNN has learned absolutely nothing after just losing a major defamation lawsuit.
Watch as Burnett and Hunt get to working on losing CNN their next billion dollars (click “expand” if you want to follow along with the transcript):
CNN's Erin Burnett and Kasie Hunt omit @elonmusk saying "I'm giving you my heart" after greeting the crowd, failing the "smear @elonmusk as a Nazi without saying Nazi so as to avoid another defamation lawsuit" challenge pic.twitter.com/3Pd0mHO7DE
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 20, 2025
CNN 2025 PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION
1/20/25
2:56 PM
ERIN BURNETT: All right, Elon Musk is speaking behind me in this room, Kasie. And you have everyone standing. Everyone here is still standing. Standing ovation for Elon Musk. By far the biggest reception of the day. You saw him come out with that odd looking salute.
KASIE HUNT: Yeah.
BURNETT: It was odd looking. We're going to show a screen grab of it. And as he said to him, the future of civilization is assured now that Trump won. One of his rousing lines for this crowd.
HUNT: One of his rousing lines, indeed, yes. That salute was evocative of things that we have seen through history, and of course, we do want to bring it up to be able to take a little bit of a closer look. But I think it's worth noting that Elon Musk has started to play in politics, not just here in the United States, but across Europe as well, including a far right party in Germany that he has pushed. He has, of course, pressured Keir Starmer, the prime minister in the United Kingdom. This is something- there are some themes here for him. And as we heard here, his ambitions are sweeping. He came in- he said “this is what winning feels like.” He also says “we're going to take DOGE to Mars.” That, of course, an ambition of his- of his entire life. I do find it interesting that he's touting government spending on the one hand. What got us to the moon and what's going to get us to Mars is going to be government money. We should be clear about that.
BURNETT: So, yeah, it- it- it absolutely will be. As it…so- just to look at this again, this crowd, every single person here is paying attention, and they are fully engaged. He is a hero. He is a hero to them. I just want to look at that salute that he gave. Again, just if anybody missed it, we'll just show it again. He’s just wrapped up here. You can hear the- there. All right, so we just- we just showed that. We just showed that…salute.
HUNT: Right. It’s worth noting it was quick. I think our viewers are smart, and they can take a look at that, but it certainly was -- it's not something that you typically see at American political rallies. Put it that way,
BURNETT: No, no, it is not something that you usually would see. And it was quick, as you point out. It was very quick, but it was in a moment of intensity for him as it came out of dancing and then he did that.
Do take note of the contortions that Burnett and Hunt go through in order to say “Nazi” without actually saying “Nazi.” They point out the following, in order: The “salute” is “odd-looking” and “evocative of things that we have seen throughout history.” What things? It is at this point that Hunt helpfully points out that Musk has stated support for Alternative for Germany (AfD), which she calls “a far-right party.” So, weird “salute” and German far-right, clumsily strung together. Burnett then further expounds on the weirdness of the “salute” before Hunt points out that it is not often seen at American political rallies.
Except that it is not a “salute”, and never was. Elon was exuberantly gesturing affection to those present at the Inaugural Parade. We know this because CNN aired Elon’s speech and gesture in its full context. And it is in that context that we see Elon’s gesture of affection in its entirety, a minute before Buenett and Hunt cut away from the speech in order to levy a Nazi smear bolstered by a video portion clipped out of context.
Viewed in its full context, the CNN exchange on @elonmusk seems even MORE defamatory. The "sending you my heart" moment happened a minute before they cut into the speech in order to do their Nazi smear. https://t.co/cw5YdbYDdg pic.twitter.com/OIqUKCmvtA
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 21, 2025
In addition to not learning anything and exposing CNN to the next potential billion-dollar punitive damages award, Burnett and Hunt demonstrate the speed with which the media shifted…from Regime to Resistance.
