“Morning Joe” panelist Donny Deutsch on Wednesday shamed Jewish people who continue to support President Trump, arguing that there’s virtually “no difference” between the president and Adolf Hitler in the early 1930s.
Mr. Deutsch, who is Jewish, made the comments after pointing out the apparent lack of racial diversity at Mr. Trump’s rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night.
“There’s not one person of color. Anywhere,” he said. “This to me looked like a rally from the early ’30s.”
Mr. Deutsch claimed that many people are afraid to make Trump/Hitler comparisons despite their glaring similarities.
“What was going on in early ’30s Germany?” he explained. “Well, basically you had a destruction of the belief in the free press, you had a blurring between the executive branch and the Justice Department, you have creating an ’other,’ whether it’s Muslims, whether it’s Mexicans, whether it’s congressmen who weren’t born in this country. And then you have the destruction of free elections. And we’re here.
“And what is the difference between Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump?” he asked. “I’m not saying there’s a Holocaust, but when you look at the tactics, and that is where we are right now.”
Mr. Deutsch accused Jews of ignoring their own history in order to support Mr. Trump.
“I want to talk to my Jewish friends who are voting for Donald Trump: How dare you?” he said. “How dare you, with what our people have gone through in history, and you see a man who is a dictator, and once you give them an absolute power he is possible of anything.
“And if you are a Jew in this country and you are supporting Donald Trump, you are not looking back at our history,” he continued. “And you are blind, and you are walking like a lemming off a cliff. It is time to wake up. I’m sorry, this is where we are. There is no difference from what Donald Trump is preaching from what Adolf Hitler preached in the early 30s. Let’s just say it once and for all.”
Bishop Aubrey Shines, a founder of Conservative Clergy of Color, slammed Mr. Deutsch’s comments as “disgusting” and called for him to immediately apologize.
“As someone who has both African and Jewish heritage, this is appalling and disgusting,” Bishop Shines said in a statement. “Elections make us more passionate, but that is no excuse to make racist generalizations like this. A Black person or Jewish person is not ignorant or stupid because they support one party over another.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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