RJC to Clyburn: Stop Comparing Trump to Nazis
The Republican Jewish Coalition responded to remarks Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) made to NBC News yesterday, comparing Donald Trump’s presidency with Hitler’s rise to power.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said:
Asked about today’s political environment, Rep. Clyburn drew parallels between President Trump and Adolf Hitler. He said, "Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. And he went about the business of discrediting institutions..." Clyburn said that Trump has similarly sought to discredit previous presidents, the Congress, and the free press. That is an outrageous comparison.
Rep. Clyburn has repeatedly likened our current political moment to the rise of the Nazis in Germany. He told Don Lemon on CNN in January 2018 that: “I can only equate one period of time with what we are experiencing now and that was what was going on in Germany around 1934 right after the 1932 elections when Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor.” His remarks are historically illiterate and fundamentally dishonest.
This is the same Rep. Clyburn who defended Rep. Ilhan Omar’s clearly anti-Semitic comments by saying that her experience as a refugee was “more personal” than the experience of children of Holocaust survivors. This is the same Rep. Clyburn who shared a stage with the anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, and who refused to condemn Farrakhan or the anti-Jewish hatred he peddles.
Frankly, we are tired of Rep. Clyburn appropriating the horrors of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust any time it suits him. It is outrageous of him to defend anti-Semitism on the one hand while calling Republicans Nazis at the same time. This has to stop.
RJC National Chairman Norm Coleman said:
The RJC has always spoken out whenever anyone, on either side of the political aisle, has used Holocaust imagery or Nazi comparisons for political gain. Rep. Clyburn demeans his office and disparages the suffering of the Nazis’ victims by repeatedly slandering his political opponents with Nazi references. He should apologize for his remarks.
Sources:
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/clyburn-calls-trump-family-greatest-threats-democracy-my-lifetime-n985131
- https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/u-s-rep-james-clyburn-compares-president-trump-to-fascist/article_775dfac4-05e0-11e8-ae80-3b969ca77f03.html
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rep-james-clyburn-says-ilhan-omars-experience-is-more-personal-than-that-of-holocaust-survivors-children/2019/03/07/fcda705c-410c-11e9-9361-301ffb5bd5e6_story.html
- https://dailycaller.com/2018/03/08/james-clyburn-top-democrat-ties-farrakhan/