Trump supporters have railed against MSNBC after host Jonathan Capehart likened the rally former President Donald Trump held Sunday at Madison Square Garden to a rally held for Adolf Hitler at the same location in 1939.
“In 1939, more than 20,000 supporters of a different fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, packed the Garden for a so-called pro-America rally,” Mr. Capehart said Sunday on MSNBC.
“Now, against the backdrop of history, Donald Trump, the man who has threatened to use the military against opponents he calls ‘enemies from within,’ who has threatened to use the troops to quell what he says are lawless cities and use those troops to carry out mass deportations of immigrants, is once again turning Madison Square Garden into a staging ground for extremism,” he said.
The video that aired behind Mr. Capehart included clips from the Nazi rally at the famed New York City arena.
The Washington Times has reached out to MSNBC for comment.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, said Monday she was “sick” of the rhetoric surrounding Mr. Trump and his supporters.
“MSNBC is lying about ALL of us who attended the MSG Trump rally,” Ms. Greene posted on X. “I’m sick of this. I’m sick of the lies and I’m sick of the death threats. We should sue them. If a taxpayer funded voting machine company can sue people then we should sue the fake news.”
Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer and now a contributor at the conservative Turning Point USA, shared the clip of the MSNBC segment on X.
“Obama last week: ‘How did things get so divisive?’” she posted, adding “MSNBC last night:” — with the video of Mr. Capehart comparing the rallies.
Juanita Broaddrick, a former nursing home administrator who claims she was raped by Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas, expressed her own outrage over the segment.
“What the absolute f—…MSNBC?” Ms. Broaddrick posted on X. “Are you trying to instigate another attempt on President Trump’s life? This is a complete lie and you know it. You are a scum network.”
Other users on social media pointed out that Madison Square Garden has hosted other political events in the past, including the Democratic National Convention in 1992.
However, the MSNBC segment wasn’t the only connection made between the Trump rally and the Nazi rally. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz made a similar comment Sunday at a rally in Nevada.
“Donald Trump’s got this big rally going at Madison Square Garden,” said Mr. Walz, who is governor of Minnesota. “There’s a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid-1930s at Madison Square Garden. And don’t think that he doesn’t know for one second exactly what they’re doing there.”
The Trump campaign decried Mr. Walz’s comments Monday, saying he should apologize.
“Kamala Harris’ campaign is copying Hillary Clinton’s strategy of attacking half the country. Tim Walz needs to apologize for his disgraceful comments smearing Trump supporters,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “This kind of rhetoric has already inspired assassination attempts.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was one of the first to make a similar comment. On Thursday in an interview with CNN, Ms. Clinton said Mr. Trump was “actually reenacting the Madison Square Garden rally in 1939.”
The Trump campaign called her out for “hypocrisy” and noted that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at Madison Square Garden in 1992.
“Putting aside her hypocrisy, Hillary’s rhetoric about half of the country is disgusting,” Ms. Leavitt said in a statement.
This rally came shortly after Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, said in bombshell interviews last week that Mr. Trump had praised Hitler’s generals and fits the definition of a fascist.
Democrats had different messaging projected onto the arena, including “Trump praised Hitler” in all caps.
The rally received some criticism for comments by stand-up comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made comments about Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez tried to distance the campaign from his jokes.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Ms. Alvarez said in a statement.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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