Former president Donald Trump, responding in some of the most direct terms yet to growing accusations that he is a fascist, declared on Monday: “I am the opposite of a Nazi.”
The extraordinary declaration, made eight days before Election Day, follows a growing chorus of warnings over how the former president might govern if elected to serve a second term.
Vice President Kamala Harris said last week that she agrees with assessments that Trump is a fascist after his former chief of staff told the New York Times that Trump would rule like a dictator and that, while in office, said Adolf Hitler “did some good things.” Trump has denied making the comments.
READ ALSO: Backlash after comedian at Trump rally calls Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage’
The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly referred to his political opponents as the “enemy from within,” including during a rally he hosted Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where his opening acts made racist remarks and the Confederate anthem “Dixie” played. Some Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the vice-presidential nominee, drew parallels between that event and a 1939 Nazi rally held at the same venue.
The attacks appeared to strike a nerve with Trump, who said that his opponents have referred to him as everything from stupid to a mad genius intent on taking over the world. Speakers at his recent events referenced the claims frequently and indignantly — using the labels to galvanize their crowds and stir outrage in the same way that Trump supporters rallied against Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment in 2016.
“They use: ‘He’s Hitler’ and then they say ‘He’s a Nazi.’” Trump said. “I’m not a Nazi, I’m the opposite of a Nazi.”
Trump also falsely stated that Harris and her campaign have deemed “everyone who isn’t voting for her” a Nazi, before he described the vice president as a “fascist” — a strategy Trump routinely uses to turn political rivals’ criticism onto them.
Reported by CNN
