Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell had an explosive showdown with NewsNight panelist Scott Jennings over his defense of Elon Musk’s questionable salute.
Rampell achieved the rare feat of stunning Jennings into silence after she threw down the gauntlet and challenged him to repeat Musk’s now infamous gesture, after the Republican talking head suggested the outrage over it was much ado about nothing. Of course, the CNN showdown comes after Donald Trump’s post inauguration ceremony rally last Monday, where Musk took to the stage before beating his chest and throwing his arm out straight. Twice.
He has since defended it as a my “heart goes out to you” gesture and his MAGA attack dogs have been berating anybody that has suggested otherwise. Jennings, of course, came out batting for the billionaire.
And during a fiery segment on NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Monday evening, journalist Catherine Rampell, who explained that she was Jewish, demanded that Jennings do the same hand gesture live on air if he believed it was not controversial.
The intense showdown saw Rampell make the demand twice as she and Jennings butted heads over their differing beliefs. Abby Phillip struggled to contain the madness as the WaPo journalist went for Jennings’ throat.
The intensity between the two started building when Rampell rhymed off Musk’s rap sheet, namely supporting the “Nazi adjacent” far right AfD part in Germany and his dodgy gestures. Host Abby Phillip added her 10 cents, reminding Rampell that Musk also spurted out some questionable Nazi jokes on X after his salute, before her guest expressed confusion as to how the Tesla chief “keeps getting the benefit of the doubt.”
“We’ve moved on from Trump derangement syndrome to Elon derangement syndrome,” Jennings replied, before trying to paint Musk as some sort of Jewish ally.
Jennings, who is a conservative political strategist by trade, added: “Anybody who is asserting this thing he did on the stage the other day was a Sieg Heil, which I just heard you say, you know, lawyer up maybe because, absolute[ly] ridiculous thing to say.”
Then Rampell clapped back with something sensational, throwing down the gauntlet to Jennings. “Why don’t you do it on TV right now? Why don’t you do it on TV right now if you think it’s so, so banal.”
Jennings, unsurprisingly, was unmoved. But the challenge did achieve the rare feat of making him fall silent, for a few seconds at least. “This salute trutherism is outrageous. This is the most–,” he began before Rampell returned with the same challenge.
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