Stop Comparing Political Rivals to Nazis
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
In fits of hyperbolic condemnation for President Trump and the America First movement, political and media leftists continue to escalate their rhetoric and now reach almost casually for comparisons to Hitler and his evil Nazi regime. Such obscene references poison our public dialogue, demean the horror suffered by Holocaust victims, and betray the heroism of our American military veterans.
On Thursday, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke appeared at a campaign event in Carroll, Iowa and castigated President Trump’s tough talk on illegal border crossings as reminiscent of the “Third Reich.” O’Rourke told the story of a visit to an elementary school where a “third grade girl, who was handing us the hand-drawn Valentines, who happens to be Mexican American, says: ‘Why does the president not like me?’” Quite frankly, I find O’Rourke’s setup difficult to accept, as it conveniently fits the popular but dubious narrative of the “woke 8 year old.” Even more suspiciously, it almost precisely replicates the story Playboy’s White House correspondent, Brian Karem, tweeted : that a “young Hispanic boy” on the Washington subway “saw my press pass and asked me ‘why does the president hate me?’”
But regardless of the veracity of these accounts, O’Rourke leapt at the opportunity to compare Trump to Nazis. He told the audience that the president “went on to call asylum seekers animals. … Now, we would not be surprised if in the Third Reich other human beings were described as an infestation, as a cockroach, or a pest you would want to kill.”
First, President Trump did not, at all, call asylum seekers “animals,” but rather very clearly directed that descriptor toward violent MS-13 gang assailants. Trump opponents have lied about these “animal” comments almost as often as they have propagated the totally discredited Charlottesville hoax, the myth that he called neo-Nazi supremacists “fine people.”
The extremist O’Rourke clearly disagrees vehemently with Trump on U.S. border sovereignty, even arguing to tear down already existing barricades. While his open-borders fantasies represent awful policy, he at least displays honesty in publicly staking out his highly unpopular view. But he also delves into demonization, comparing Trump and border enforcement to the most evil regime of modern history, one that systemically slaughtered millions of people.
Sadly, O’Rourke finds much company in this ugly pattern of Nazi analogizing among Trump critics. For example, former CIA Director Michael Hayden tweeted out a picture of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with the text “other governments have separated mothers and children.” MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch expanded the condemnation, not only impugning Trump and our Homeland Security agents, but also the 63 million Americans who voted for the president. Deutsch admonished “Morning Joe” viewers that “if you vote for Trump, then you the voter -- you, not Trump -- are standing at the border like Nazis.”
It is really beneath decency to debate these accusations on their substance, though I will point out that Trump, ironically, is the closest America has ever come to a Jewish president. No national political leader in our country deserves such ignorant insults, and certainly not a man who shares Shabbat with his own grandchildren and was told by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that “Israel has never had a better friend than you.”
Even more importantly, cavalier comparisons like O’Rourke’s denigrate the ghastly sufferings of the millions massacred by Hitler and his henchmen. Throwing around Nazi references to disparage rivals over policy prescriptions cheapens the sacredness of the true horrors of the Shoah. Edna Friedberg, a historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, decried that politicians and media figures “casually use Holocaust terminology to bash anyone or any policy with which they disagree.”
Moreover, such vile analogies disrespect the honor of America’s veterans who led the alliance that toppled the wicked Nazi menace. Hundreds of thousands of young Americans perished across an ocean to dismantle fascism. American military cemeteries dot that continent today, and remind us of the price our country paid to smash oppression. There’s truth in the aphorism that “politics ain’t bean-bag,” and we should all welcome a vigorous debate on controversial ideas such as illegal immigration. But we should also all agree to refrain from comparing political rivals to the worst murderous monsters in history.
Steve Cortes is a contributor to RealClearPolitics and a CNN political commentator.
“First, President Trump did not, at all, call asylum seekers “animals,” but rather very clearly directed that descriptor toward violent MS-13 gang assailants. Trump opponents have lied about these “animal” comments almost as often as they have propagated the totally discredited Charlottesville hoax, the myth that he called neo-Nazi supremacists “fine people.”
The extremist O’Rourke clearly disagrees vehemently with Trump on U.S. border sovereignty, even arguing to tear down already existing barricades. While his open-borders fantasies represent awful policy, he at least displays honesty in publicly staking out his highly unpopular view. But he also delves into demonization, comparing Trump and border enforcement to the most evil regime of modern history, one that systemically slaughtered millions of people.
Sadly, O’Rourke finds much company in this ugly pattern of Nazi analogizing among Trump critics. For example, former CIA Director Michael Hayden tweeted out a picture of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with the text “other governments have separated mothers and children.” MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch expanded the condemnation, not only impugning Trump and our Homeland Security agents, but also the 63 million Americans who voted for the president. Deutsch admonished “Morning Joe” viewers that “if you vote for Trump, then you the voter -- you, not Trump -- are standing at the border like Nazis.”
It is really beneath decency to debate these accusations on their substance, though I will point out that Trump, ironically, is the closest America has ever come to a Jewish president. No national political leader in our country deserves such ignorant insults, and certainly not a man who shares Shabbat with his own grandchildren and was told by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that “Israel has never had a better friend than you.””
Nope, I'll keep right on doing it when it's deserved.
Just think of the nazi burning of three black churches.
You fail again
Yep. I'll continue to call em as I see em. Fascism should always be called out.
Comparing ones opposition to nazis, Hitler, and that era in Germany is a losers way of ending a debate /discussion. It accomplished nothing except ending the conversation and making a loser out of whoever resorts to comparing any American political figure or mainstream movement to that stuff. The underlying points of this article are right on.
In the past I'd completely agree with you. In the last two years however, we've had a spike in white supremacist groups, a march in Charlottesville with a large crowd of tiki torch wielding white males wearing swastikas and MAGA hats shouting "Jews will not replace us!" that the President referred to as "fine people". Any unbiased view of the Trump Presidency would almost unintentionally come to the conclusion Trump has pushed America toward fascism, not away from it, and any comparisons to early Hitler are very justified.
In the early 1930's Hitler hadn't murdered millions of Jews yet, he hadn't committed the atrocities he is known for today, he was just a loud mouthed bigoted narcissist nationalist who claimed he was Germany's only hope after the depression they had just begun to recover from. He used nationalism as a wedge to drive between those he claimed were the "others", the supposed "foreign invaders", and native born Arian Germans, even if the immigrants had been born in Germany but were of some other racial minority. He blamed the financial problems and high unemployment on immigrants and liberals, locking up Jews and gays along with any other minority, even the disabled. At first of course he told the people the "undesirables" and immigrants were being held in relocation camps to simply send them back to where they came from, but of course, that proved logistically impossible so they just started lining them up and shooting them so they'd fall into the pre-dug ditches. And when that wasn't efficient enough they started packing them into bunkers where the windows and doors were sealed up and they ran the exhaust from they trucks through hoses into the bunkers. The method was clear, first separate, make a distinction between us and them, then dehumanize, call them "animals", claim the only recourse you had was to humanely lock them up. Then out of a combination of exhaustion, fear and expedience, the attempt to eliminate them by any means necessary begins and a populist leader like Hitler was, early in his political career, becomes the genocidal monster we all now know. I'll readily admit, Trump isn't anything like the Hitler at the end of his reign, but if you can't see the similarities to the Hitler from the early 1930's as he was running for Chancellor or was newly elected, then you're intentionally covering your eyes and plugging your ears.
“Trump opponents have lied about these “animal” comments almost as often as they have propagated the totally discredited Charlottesville hoax, the myth that he called neo-Nazi supremacists “fine people.”
The extremist O’Rourke clearly disagrees vehemently with Trump on U.S. border sovereignty, even arguing to tear down already existing barricades. While his open-borders fantasies represent awful policy, he at least displays honesty in publicly staking out his highly unpopular view. But he also delves into demonization, comparing Trump and border enforcement to the most evil regime of modern history, one that systemically slaughtered millions of people.
Sadly, O’Rourke finds much company in this ugly pattern of Nazi analogizing among Trump critics.”
It's not just O'Rourke, its everybody who pays attention to the rhetoric coming from Trump and everybody around him, not the least his base. Watch his rallies and listen when they cheer and get excited. Read the statistics about the rise in hate crimes. Stop trying to make nationalism patriotism, it most assuredly is not. The comparisons are coming at Trump and his supporters because of their own words and actions, some of us know WWII history very well. I think its funny you call O'Rourke an extremist. Trump/GOP border rhetoric and their actions speak to their character, their priorities and their values. And stop promoting the lie that democrats want open borders. Not true. Trump lies.
I watch every one of his rallies that Fox News carries. He is at his absolute best at those. Trumps America first, Keep America Great! Theme and rhetoric are most certainly patriotism and patriotic. We love what Trump has done for flyover Heartland America and the working and middle class. Our priorities, values, and character are purely American.
the left thinks ridicule is a powerful weapon
but alinsky was an idiot. ridicule is only a powerful weapon against the left.
(words actually hurt them - they cry and need therapy) (or block us from further discussion)
ridicule the right?
we just laugh, dig our heels in further, and then push back harder.
cheers
Nope ridicule is a right wing meme as shown by your use of word Alinsky, when you don't even understand it
I understand alinsky and love using his tactics on his followers. it makes me laugh
meanwhile, the mere mention of the word trump makes the left freek out... LOL
Then why is the majority all laughing at the right?
"we just laugh, dig our heels in further, and then push back harder"
Yes, we get it, stupid is as stupid does, and only a complete idiot would double down on stupid like the right has.
because alinsky told them it would hurt our feelings... and he was wrong.
nothing can be said that will hurt my feelings. can never happen,
but I can make a lefty cry by drawing the word trump on a sidewalk or by wearing a red hat. the left are weak like that.
BTW, you don't have a majority, only about 30% are hardcore democrats. with about 40% independent and about another 30% in the gop.
ya may have had a national majority vote against trump but that does not represent every person in the country. not everyone gets polled or voted. there is no progressive majority. does not exist.
a lot of people did not believe trump was conservative then, but do now.
and the plurality you did have in 2016 is NOT laughing about trump. they are still crying and bitching and moaning, while looking for impeachment or some other unicorn to save them.
meanwhile.... on the right
I think there is a whole lot of folks who need a refresher course on Fascism. There is a reason the world sees a link with Trump and what happened in WWII. Here are a couple of examples. Plenty more. Laugh and dismiss at your own risk.
None of this group will read that lib50, they are too ingrained with using ridicule as a weapon
The democrat party and its secular progressive liberal fascism has gone so far left that all they can do is accuse their opposition of being with they really are.
let's do that....
question (1)
which political party in the USA wants to silence everyone who does not agree?
(begin)
The democrat party
and you sir, are correct. yes, fascists always try to silence opposition.
question (2)
which political party in the USA abused the power of govt to take down a sitting president with fabricated evidence?
(begin)
I wonder which party that could be???
the party? the democrats.
the disease? liberalism.