Yes it's bait and yes it's a dog whistle and yes it's a call and acknowledgement to their facsist supporters.

And it STILL doesn't really matter.

Here's one story that's already getting buried that's obviously far more important - Trump pardoning 1500 Jan 6 rioters. That's 1500 people who stormed the Capital, at Trump's urging, with the explicit stated goal of "stop(ping) the steal," which is to say, using whatever means might serve, clearly including violence for which they were not coincidentally already equipped, to prevent the Congress from carrying out its sworn duty in accordance with the Constitution and the law of the land.

No matter how you look at it, that's a FAR more grave threat to the US than a cringe manchild throwing a few sieg heils.

It's not important, it just makes us look like we're in hystrionics about Musk etc.

To most Americans, they're not worried about a handful of idiots in swastikas. When we take this sort of bait it just makes real criticisms look like more Lefty whining.

He won the popular vote.

We can quibble about "okay but that doesn't include those who didn't vote!" Which is a pretty dumb argument.

But I could rephrase "of the people who cared enough about politics to be relevant to this discussion, more than half the country..."

In the same way I didn't say I was only counting living people, some things seem pretty obvious.