French far-right leader cancels U.S. speech after Bannon's "Nazi" gesture as German far right distances itself from J.D. Vance

French far-right leader Jordan Bardella has canceled a planned speech at CPAC after former Trump aide Steve Bannon flashed a "Nazi gesture" on stage. Bannon, emulating South African billionaire Elon Musk, offered the crowd his rigid-arm, fingers together and pointed, palm down, to conclude a speech—with none of the waving or fingering that might distinguish it from the salute used by fascists and Nazis and apocryphally attributed to the Romans. All it lacked was Musk's thumping enthusiasm; here as in everything else, Bannon is a sloppy sadsack.

The president of France's National Rally party, who is in the US capital, said he was not present … "I had been invited… to make a speech on the links between the United States and France, as well as the recent electoral dynamic of patriot parties in Europe," Bardella said in a statement.

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

The salutes are carefully measured to trigger the euphemizing instincts and anxieties of American media. But that one weird trick doesn't work in Europe. Even conservative media and politicians there see the Price Is Right Racism Dial for what it is and the salutes for what they are. In the U.S. context, Musk and Bannon are doing something indefinite and awkward which can't even be described as provocative without that registering as an editorialized opinion. In Europe, they're just signalling their sympathies.

Meanwhile, Germany's own far-right party, the AfD, is making a public point of distancing itself from J.D. Vance. Associating with him has hurt the party's standing in polls. The logic is the same: the American right wing's belligerence and political posturing is so toxic in the European context that even the fascists there don't want to be associated with it.