On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight,” House Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-SC) stated that Germany around 1934 is the only time period he can equate to America’s present condition and warned that “we could very well see ourselves going the way of Germany” if we don’t “get a handle on things.”
Clyburn said, “I think that we are facing some real precarious times in the country. And of course, having studied history and having taught history, I can only equate one period of time with what we’re experiencing now, and that was what was going on in Germany around 1934, right after the 1932 elections, when Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor. He began to do things to discredit the media, to disrupt the judicial system. And if you recall from your studies, they had swastikas hung in churches all over Germany. And when I see and hear and experience what’s going on in the country today, I think back to that time. And I really believe that we as Americans had better get a handle on things. If we don’t, we could very well see ourselves going the way of Germany.”
Anchor Don Lemon responded, “You know that’s a stark comparison. people are going to say, ‘Well, he’s comparing him to Hitler and the Holocaust and all those things.'”
Clyburn then stated that the difference is “if I were making that comparison, then this president would be Mussolini, and Putin would be Hitler.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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