French far-right leader cancels speech after accusing Bannon of ‘Nazi gesture’
French far-right leader Jordan Bardella, after Donald Trump’s former top adviser gestured on stage, with Bardella and others paying tribute to the Nazis with the Nazis, Jordan Bardella, the former top adviser to Donald Trump, gestured on stage, and Bardella and others paid tribute to the Nazis. The planned speech was canceled at the conservative political action conference in Washington.
Steve Bannon yelled “fight, fight, fight” during a CPAC speech Thursday night, then stretched out his right arm with his fingers pointing and palms facing down.
Badra, who leads the French National Ralph Party, has been in Washington and plans to speak at Friday’s event. He said in a statement that he was canceling what he called the appearance of “gestures referring to Nazi ideology.”
Bannon denied the Nazi comparison and called the gesture a “wave”, calling it a “exactly identical wave” he did on stage in a speech to the Badra Party seven years ago in France.
“If he canceled the mainstream media’s view of speeches, he wouldn’t listen to speeches. If yes, he wasn’t worthy of leading France. He was a boy, not a man,” Bannon told French news magazine le Point.
Romanian far-right leader George Simion told the BBC in the lobby of the Gaylord National Resort Convention Center that he also disagrees with Badra’s explanation of Bannon’s gesture.
“Any historian knows it’s not a Nazi tribute,” he said.
Bannon’s stage gestures seem to match one of the billionaire-turned-presidential adviser Elon Musk at the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. Musk also denied that he had given a Nazi salute after the commotion.
Bardella, seen as the hope of future French president, is one of several high-profile international politicians planning to speak at the CPAC during the four-day meeting that began on Wednesday.
Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss addressed the conservative party on the first day and told attendees that the British state had “failed”. On Thursday, Argentine President Javier Milei handed Elon Musk to him waving a shiny chainsaw on stage to celebrate his Road Initiative to celebrate the federal government.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will speak on Saturday ahead of President Trump’s speech.
The annual CPAC conference is increasingly dominated by Trump’s “movement that makes America great again,” and this year, as it comes with a celebratory tone after his November election victory.
The speaker behind the spokesman praised the White House’s action since Republicans returned to the Oval Office.
Bannon met with applause after Thursday’s speech, ending in a controversial manner.
He told the crowd: “The only way they win is that we retreat, we won’t retreat.”
“We won’t surrender, we won’t resign, we will fight, fight, fight.”
Bannon was Trump’s top adviser at the beginning of his first term before the president fired him. Flame Conservatives hosted the influential War Room podcast, listened to by the Legion of Trump Supporters.
He was released from prison in October after serving four months for violating a congressional subpoena in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In another case, Bannon pleaded guilty earlier this month to deceive donors to build a US-Mexico border wall donor in violation of prison.
