House Majority Whip James Clyburn urged Congress Tuesday evening to do more to counter President Trump but stayed away from calling from impeachment.
“We are asking for dire consequences,” Mr. Clyburn told NBC News. “And I think it’s time for the Congress — House and Senate — to grow spines, and do what is necessary to protect this democracy. This man and his family are the greatest threats to democracy of my lifetime.”
The third-ranking Democrat said he has a never seen such a polarized political climate and compared it to Nazi Germany.
“Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. And he went about the business of discrediting institutions to the point that people bought into his stuff,” he said. “Nobody would have believed it now. But swastikas hung in churches throughout Germany. We had better be very careful.”
Despite the danger he accused the president of posing, Mr. Clyburn said it was too soon to consider calling for impeachment, something Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dismissed as “not worth it.”
“I think all of us know that impeachment is a political concept. And if the committees do their work properly, they will be able to bring the public along with them,” Mr. Clyburn said. “They will be able to set the tone for impeachment if that is deserved.”
In response to Mr. Clyburn’s comments, the Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement asking for the majority whip to stop the “outrageous comparison” between Mr. Trump and Hitler.
“We are tired of Rep. Clyburn appropriating the horrors of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust any time it suits him,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said.
“It is outrageous of him to defend anti-Semitism on the one hand while calling Republicans Nazis at the same time. This has to stop,” he added.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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