A Republican official in Pennsylvania has been forced to resign after posting her own version of Elon Musk’s highly evocative salute from Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Towamencin Township Supervisor Laura Smith posted a TikTok video in which she hit her chest three times and extended her arm out in front of her, similar to the salute Musk made during his speech after Trump’s inauguration, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“Just checking in on my friends who are struggling this week,” Smith, who is a Republican, said before hitting the salute. As she put her hand down, she paused and added, “My heart goes out to you. Hope you’re doing OK.”
The line was a clear reference to Musk, who during an inauguration speech at Capital One Arena on Jan. 20 hit his chest once and shot his arm out, then turned around and did it again for the people sitting behind him. When he was done, put his hand over his heart and said, “My heart goes out to you.”
Many observers were quick to point out Musk’s gesture bore a striking resemblance to a “Nazi salute.” Defenders insisted the world’s richest man and Trump “First Buddy” was just so excited he’d made an awkward motion. Musk himself seemed to co-sign that defense—and then decided to make his case with a string of Nazi jokes.
Either way, Smith was then inspired to post her own version of the salute on Friday evening, the Inquirer reported. The backlash from the people of Towamencin—a township of about 17,500 people 40 minutes north of Philadelphia—was swift and fierce.
Hundreds of angry emails poured in, and the township’s Facebook page was flooded with concerned comments. Reddit users mobilized to speak against Smith at upcoming meetings, state lawmakers took notice, and Smith’s fellow township supervisors called on her to resign.
After resigning from two local nonprofit boards on Saturday, she submitted her resignation to the Board of Supervisors on Sunday, though she maintained she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“A video I posted recently to social media has been greatly mischaracterized. Not wishing to give offense, I removed the video from my accounts,” Smith said in a statement. “I abhor racism, anti-Semitic or discrimination in any fashion or form, and my record as a township supervisor attests to my commitment to treat all people with dignity and respect.”
Her colleagues were not convinced.
“To be clear, if you are doing a pose with the intention of making people upset because it looks like a Nazi salute, the pose you are doing is a Nazi salute,” Democratic supervisor Kofi Osei wrote on Facebook, according to the Inquirer.
The Board of Supervisors—which is currently made up of three Republicans and two Democrats—said it plans to accept her resignation at its next meeting.
“The Board of Supervisors cannot and will not tolerate such conduct,” it said in a statement.
The Daily Beast has contacted Smith for comment.
Last week, a Milwaukee meteorologist who called out Musk’s salute on social media was fired from CBS58.
“Dude Nazi saluted twice. TWICE. During the inauguration,” meteorologist Sam Kuffel wrote in an Instagram story alongside an image of Musk. “You f--- with this and this man, I don’t f--- with you. Full stop.”
The story was later posted to X by conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell, which apparently prompted the firing. Users on X criticized the station for axing Kuffel for speaking out.
Responding to a CBS58 story about Trump’s plans for mass deportations that featured an immigration lawyer saying, “People have rights,” one user wrote, “People also have the right to condemn Nazi salutes without being fired.”
