Screenshot of Laura Smith's now-deleted Tik Tok video.
Mimicking the motions made at the inauguration, Supervisor Laura Smith is facing backlash from not only the North Penn community, but also thousands on Reddit, Facebook, and X.
A TikTok video made by a Towamencin Township Supervisor mimicking a supposed Nazi salute motion, a la Elon Musk at the recent inauguration, is making its rounds on Facebook, Reddit and, even the Musk-owned X, where it has been viewed by thousands. It's created a local backlash from township taxpayers and North Penn community members alike, calling for her immediate resignation.
Republican Supervisor Laura Smith, on the TikTok account @laurasmith6036, wearing a Hollins University Women’s College sweatshirt, posted a video on Thursday of herself in a bright bedroom, in which she states, “Just checking in on my friends, who are struggling this week,” before hitting her right chest three times and putting her arm straight out in front of the camera.
“My heart goes out to you. Hope you’re doing OK,” she said, ending the video.
At President Trump’s inauguration this week, Musk, twice, slapped his right hand on his left chest, and then raised his arm out diagonally, palm down.
Smith, in her response as to the purpose of her video, posted a comment Thursday that stated she “cannot post something that matters to me without an unhinged person being a complete boob. So I made a post to stir the pot. Because I can.”
Smith, who is one of two other Republican majority members of the township Board of Supervisors, and whose term is up the end of this year, along with colleague and board Chairman Chuck Wilson, provided a statement to North Penn Now on Friday night:
“A video I posted recently to social media has been greatly mischaracterized. Not wishing to give offense, I removed the video from my accounts. I abhor racism, anti-Semitism, 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."
The two Democrats on the Board of Supervisors, Kofi Osei and Joyce Snyder, condemned Smith’s video and called for her immediate resignation. Osei posted his statement to his Facebook page.
“I absolutely abhor and condemn Supervisor Smith’s actions. There is no place in Towamencin for intentionally mimicking Nazi salutes,” said Snyder. “No matter her intentions, her actions were harmful and divisive. Towamencin needs new leadership, and I cannot wait until after the November election to get it.”
Snyder said if Smith truly cares about Towamencin’s citizens, she will immediately apologize and resign.
On Facebook, Osei wrote that by Smith’s own admission, she posted the video with the intention “to stir the pot.”
“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,” Osei wrote. “I condemn this blatant anti-Semitism expressed by Laura Smith in no uncertain terms and believe she should apologize and resign from the Board of Supervisors.”
Osei said, in absence of her resignation, it is the end of her term.
“I would encourage everyone to continue to watch for the response from Laura or her chosen successor and consider their choice on Nov 4, 2025,” Osei said.
Within 24 hours, the video was posted on Reddit, in the r/PublicFreakout subreddit, titled “Towamencin PA Board of supervisors does the Nazi salute” by Redditor Euphoric-Worker9130, who took a video of their phone playing Smith’s original now-deleted video.
As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, the Reddit post was gaining popularity at a frequency of three to seven new upvotes/reactions every three seconds, reaching upwards of 8,000 with more than 1,200 comments and more than 1,600 shares. It was the top community highlight in the subreddit on Friday night.
Smith told North Penn Now she was doxed and threatened via Reddit. Redditors posted all of the Board of Supervisors’ email addresses, which had since received more than 3,500 upvotes since 5:30 p.m. Friday.
One Redditor, Mixedpopreferences, emailed supervisors asking their official position on board members trolling the public by mimicking a Nazi salute, and if they approve of Smith’s attempt at agitating the general public by repeating a Nazi salute.
“Do you, the board, as a policy, approve of making fun of other people’s despair, and mocking the suffering of Holocaust survivors by imitating a Nazi salute?” said the email. “Even if you do not believe it to be a Nazi salute, do you approve of your board members smiling while they are attempting to take satisfaction in the mental distress of people they do not agree with? Do you agree with bullying? … Do you agree with being aggressive and intolerant to your constituents, instead of being an elected servant of the people?”
Another Redditor said in their email to board that the TikTok video reflected poorly on the town and those who live there.
“If you have 5 people at a meeting, and 1 of them is a Nazi, you have 5 Nazis at that meeting,” said the email.
North Penn School Board Director and Towamencin resident Christian Fusco, whose wife, Melissa, is an elected auditor in the township, posted screenshots of a social media dialogue between himself and Smith to his Facebook Friday night.
In his post accompanying the screenshots, Fusco called out the elected supervisor’s “abhorrent behavior,” for being one who “believes it is cute to make Nazi jokes.”
“We need, as a society, to draw some lines in the sand,” Fusco wrote. “Let’s start with holding people accountable for trying to normalize Nazism. To make matters worse, she appears to excuse Elon Musk’s Nazi salute Autism. This is unacceptable.”
Fusco’s screenshot showed a comment from him to Smith: “This is supposed to be funny? You should do this during the next supervisor’s meeting. I dare you.”
A Knights for Life nonprofit co-founder and Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library Board member, Smith responded, “When the ADL says it was not a Nazi salute and the Autism community says his body was showing signs of stimming, yet you cling to what the media is telling you to believe, I poke fun at the absurdity.”
Smith is referencing a social media post from the Anti-Defamation League on Monday evening that stated Musk “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.”
Contrarily, while the ADL called it a “moment of enthusiasm,” its website defines a Nazi salute as one done by raising an “outstretched right arm” and palm down.
Read more on the Roman salute vs. Nazi salute debate here.
Fusco’s post, however, brought a defender to Smith in former Republican school board candidate and parent of an autistic child Diana Blystone, who said Fusco should not “throw stones.” Blystone claimed Fusco stating at a past board meeting that “the goal of an IEP is to get the support so you no longer need one. That was extremely tone deaf and offensive. Especially being in the position you hold.”
“The point I am making is we all do and say things that others may deem offensive. Maybe grace and mercy needed to be given to both sides of the isle (sic),” Blystone wrote.
“No,” replied Fusco. “We should hold accountable people trying to normalize Nazism. I have spent 25 years working in special education. I am shocked that you are defending Laura blaming Elon Musk’s behavior on autism.”
In a statement to North Penn Now on Friday, Fusco said the following:
The America I grew up in was a country that had zero tolerance for Nazism. I wish to keep it that way. We cannot permit local elected leaders, like Laura Smith, or anyone for that matter, to attempt to normalize far right ideologies by making light of Nazi salutes and passing them off as attempts at humor. Her message was clear. This was meant to belittle her constituents who understood Elon Musk’s gesture at the Presidential Inauguration to be the message of hate he intended it to be.
Towamencin Township residents Judy and Andrew Phipps emailed North Penn Now, stating that, as Jewish Americans living in the township, they felt “sucker punched by one of our elected officials throwing a Nazi Salute to the public while giving a smirk and a wink.”
“And to make it even worse, she indicated that her sole purpose in doing this was ‘to stir the pot because she can.’ Anti-semitism is on a steep rise, but we did not expect this to invade our lives in our home today,” said the Phipps. “A township supervisor is supposed to represent all people, not just the people who voted for her.”
Towamencin resident Jenn Foster said she could not sit back and stay quiet when she saw the video. The former elected Government Study Commissioner said Smith must immediately resign from all her boards and committees, Towamencin or otherwise.
“To invoke something that she knew by her own admission would ‘stir the pot’ is disqualifying. There is no room for anti-Semitism or hate of any kind in our community. No matter how emboldened some may feel by recent actions or political wins, we will not stand idly by or go quietly into the night. We must never allow this behavior to become normalized,” Foster said.
On Friday night, Towamencin Township’s own Facebook page was blowing up with comments and reactions.
A harmless post about roadside tree trimming news turned into a public comment thread for people to leave more than 100 comments as of 8 p.m. related to Smith and Nazism. (If you missed it, township staff will trim trees from late January-early February for limbs in thoroughfare right-of-ways on Sumneytown Pike between Forty Foot and Bustard roads.)
The video virality even affected this publication, as our editors were emailed with numerous complaints from people who had seen the video on social media.
“Regardless of political party affiliation, I find the behavior disgusting, ignorant and downright wrong on every level,” wrote Jeffrey Shellenberger in an email to our news organization. “I hope with this email you are able to hold this person accountable for their actions. Our country is divided more than ever. The last thing we need are our elected officials trolling us with Nazi symbology.”
Another “concerned American” named Jim Tejkowski emailed North Penn Now about the issue.
“I’m not a resident of Towamencin Township, but I found your email through a Google search … I hope the community has higher stands than this sort of behavior,” wrote Tejkowski.
On Saturday, Hollins University President Mary Dana Hinton released a statement on Facebook, condemning their alumnae, Smith, who was wearing their sweatshirt in her video.
"Cleary and without equivocation, Hollins University soundly rebukes any affiliation with antisemitism, hate, and division. In this moment, more than ever, we proclaim loudly and without apology that Hollins stands for and with love," said Hinton in the statement.
On Friday, Smith, via her personal Facebook, said the video was meant to poke fun at the “insanity going on.”
“The AntiDefamation (sic) League stated while it was an awkward gesture, it was not a Nazi salute. But these folks will not accept that. So anyone who does not believe as they do is wrong,” wrote Smith. “And now they think I should be cancelled. They are calling for me to apologize and resign.”
“Apologize for what? My heart goes out to you? Tim Walz did exactly that – watch the video – it’s out there. But no one had an issue there,” wrote Smith. “All the Democratic leaders have similar photos out there, but no one has an issue.”
Smith finished her Facebook post with, “Wake up – these people do not want you to think for yourselves they want you to believe what they tell you and if you step out of line, they will come for you.”
A message was sent to Supervisor Kristin Warner for comment, but she had not replied by press time. We will include her comments in an update as they are made available.
On Saturday, Smith resigned from her positions on the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library and on the board of the nonprofit Knights for Life.