'Abominable': Congressman Links Democrats, Nazis

Mo Brooks isn't alone in calling Hitler a 'socialist'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 27, 2019 10:04 AM CDT
'Abominable': Congressman Links Democrats, Nazis
Rep. Mo Brooks is seen in Huntsville, Ala., on Aug. 15, 2017.   (Bob Gathany/AL.com via AP)

Politico is pointing out that the National Socialist German Workers' Party, aka the Nazi Party, "was fascist, not socialist—the opposite end of the political universe from socialists" following what it calls an "inane debate" among members of Congress. It began Monday as Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks accused "socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies" of perpetuating the "biggest political lie" in regard to accusations of collusion between President Trump's campaign and Russia. Standing on the House floor, he went on to read a passage from Mein Kampf, referring to Adolf Hitler as "another socialist who mastered 'big lie' propaganda to maximum, and deadly, effect." Per CNN, his emphasis of "socialist" seemed intended to link Democrats and Nazis, though the two are "not comparable."

GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas continued the thread Tuesday during a Judiciary Committee hearing, saying he feared a corrupt Justice Department could usher in a future authoritarian leader. All that's needed is "another socialist like Hitler to come along" and "we could lose everything," he said. "As a Jewish person ... I get offended when you compare socialists to Nazis," responded Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee. "It's what they were," Gohmert countered before Chairman Jerry Nadler weighed in. "It's hard to listen to historical revisionism or perhaps ignorance about the Nazis," who were at the "extreme right of the political spectrum," said the New York Democrat. Cohen wasn't done. "The logical connection in their messaging is to say that socialists were for the Holocaust," he said. That's "abominable and scary." (Brooks also links rising sea levels to erosion.)

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