Recently, Donald Trump made widely reported comments comparing political opponents of his to “vermin,” which many decried as directly mirroring the rhetoric of historical dictators like Germany’s Adolf Hitler. Trump used that language on Veterans Day, pledging to “root out” individuals that he was referencing.
“These World War II veterans fought against the horrors brought forth by those words,” a new video from the advocacy organization VoteVets said, lumping Trump’s comments with their observed historical parallels. “Donald Trump is spewing the same despicable language right here at home against those he dislikes. This is a betrayal of our values and history’s hard-learned lessons.” The video goes on to assert that re-electing Trump would be an “insult” to fallen soldiers from World War II who fought against Nazism. “We cannot and WILL NOT let this man anywhere near the White House again,” a caption adds.
Trump’s comments were widely condemned. The Biden campaign noted the parallel between what Trump was saying and past language from tyrants. “On a weekend when most Americans were honoring our nation’s heroes, Donald Trump parroted the autocratic language of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini — two dictators many U.S. veterans gave their lives fighting, in order to defeat exactly the kind of un-American ideas Trump now champions,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said this week.
And elsewhere, former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming condemned the Republicans refusing to condemn the language of their party’s presidential front-runner, describing these party figures as evident collaborators.
And compare Trump’s language for his opponents to the individuals with whom he does stand, a list including participants in the violent, murderous assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He has repeatedly dangled the prospect of pardoning such individuals if he makes it back to the White House, often just glossing over the basic facts of what many of the participants in that day’s events were actually documented to have done.
🚨Trump calls those he dislikes ‘vermin.’
This a dangerous, dehumanizing echo of the worst tyrants in history.
We cannot and WILL NOT let this man anywhere near the White House again. #VeteransDefendDemocracy pic.twitter.com/k5rWIDcRQS
— VoteVets (@votevets) November 14, 2023
