Leadership matters. America, today, welcomed peacefully another electoral winner. The 47th president, Donald Trump, has taken optimism of at least 1/2 of the country and positioned it. What will define today’s peaceful transition is a press willing to accurately be honest with the American people.
Contempt and controversy should not be the guide posts. Context matters.
C-Span broadcast of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration. January 20, 2025.
Elon Musk, moments after the President took the Oval Office, gestured in an unfortunate manner – that is if you are on edge for American Democracy becoming a fascist state of affairs. Musk, the immigrant success story for first, America and clearly globally, has a lot at stake.
Passion and purpose should not cloud judgment and interpretation. Misinformation is what led the Palestinians to Hamas. We all know the despicable state of affairs that the ongoing conflict has caused to the innocent. Much because of the unchecked access the international media has given a terrorist organization.
At the top though, innocence is not excusable. Musk, and others at the helm of American Business and the new opportunities for governmental business reforms, must proceed clearly.
A misstep like a reference to Nazi Germany or the evil that it represented has no place in America’s freedom, liberty and the optimism possible for the future. “Roman” salutes were the practice of Democracies in Germany, France, and America before the appropriated practice was radicalized by Hitler’s Germany. President Roosevelt changed our practice of the salute to correctly be the hand over the heart. This was done so America was clear on what our freedom, Democracy, and values represented.
American and international media should recognize the truth and not facilitate the wrongful meanings behind dynamic leaders. @elonmusk: You are smarter than this and must be in your elevated public role. @michaelrapaport
NOTE: The New York Time’s subsequently featured a lengthy discussion about the “Musk” salute’s meaning – especially in Germany. As the “father of photojournalism” documented, Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed Americans before, during, and after World War II. As originally mentioned, President Roosevelt approved the Congressional Act which changed the pledge process from an outstretched arm to a hand on/over the heart. Eisenstaedt’s 1942 photograph in Polk County, Iowa, was taken at the time of the Congressional Act, an act to further distance America from Fascist Germany.
Students in Polk County Iowa Pledge Allegiance to the Flag, 1942. Alfred Eisenstaedt © Time, Inc/Dotdash Meredith
