Echos of Hitler and Mussolini
Trump and his far right supporters are following the fascist playbook by promising to "root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”
Historians are warning that Trump describing his political enemies as "vermin", and promising the mass deportation of immigrants he blames for “poisoning the blood of our country" is the same language used by Mussolini and Hitler to dehumanize and kill millions of people. Jason Stanley, Yale expert on facism and propaganda, called Trump's rhetoric "textbook Mein Kampf." Political Scientist Brian Klaas said “we are sleepwalking towards authoritarianism," and Presidential historian Jon Meacham warned that Trump is walking "through the door toward the most ghastly kinds of crimes.”
By Matt Gertz
Major broadcast TV and print outlets largely ignored his use of Nazi-like rhetoric
Michael Tomasky and Professor Brian Klaas discuss Trump's recent remarks at a campaign stop where he pledges to root out 'vermin' if given a second term.