I’ve heard that people are often interested in Asian women because they are expected to be subservient. I just think that while women of any ethnicity can be good-looking*, East Asian women are better-looking on average. I wouldn’t call that a fetish the way that you do, and I don’t think it’s somehow worse than a preference for any other sort of physical feature (which I wouldn’t call a fetish either unless it was very extreme).

*Good-looking to me rather than in an absolute sense.

The fact that the salute is so offensive, they did it so blatantly, and their denial was so disingenuous is the point. It’s a demonstration of power. They can do a Nazi salute and their opponents can’t punish them. They can deny that they did a Nazi salute and their opponents can’t control the narrative. If they did something more subtle, then people might think that they weren’t facing any consequences because their opponents were giving them the benefit of the doubt. With the Nazi salute there is no doubt. The only explanation for why they aren’t facing any consequences is that their opponents are powerless.