Following the move by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to fly migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis have been flying around on Twitter.
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld pointed out one major issue with the comparisons during a segment of “The Five” on Tuesday.
“Obviously, I think it’s brilliant,” Gutfeld said of the migrant flights, adding, “You can call it a stunt, you can say they’re using people as props, but… Republicans learned that from the Democrats.”
He continued, “The ball has been moved down the field on this. The immediate Democratic response has not been to attack the problem with solutions, but to attack the person with the solutions, which is DeSantis, right?”
Taking aim at the tired comparisons to Hitler, Gutfeld said, “I think when Democrats realize there’s a new formidable Republican, you know, out there, suddenly you have a new Hitler. Then the old Hitler well, maybe he’s not so bad.”
“Suddenly, The New York Times is saying how Trump is kinder and gentler, and is funny, and he never took himself seriously, and charming. So now the guy they called Hitler is now not Hitler, because…not everybody can be Hitler at once,” he added.
Watch the video below:
"Suddenly you have a new Hitler," @GregGutfeld mocks Democrats for always vilifying the new "bad Republican" — "Suddenly the guy they called Hitler is not Hitler, because not everybody can be Hitler at once, right?" pic.twitter.com/43T4HPODJF
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) September 20, 2022
He also pointed out how Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was demonized during his 2012 presidential campaign, and after former President Donald Trump’s rise, he “became a statesman” in the eyes of some in the media.
Gutfeld’s comments about The New York Times refer to an opinion piece written by columnist Jamelle Bouie. In the article, Bouie argued DeSantis “looks a lot like a bully” compared to Trump.
“Trump has the skills of a celebrity. He’s funny, he has stage presence, and he has a kind of natural charisma. He can be a bully in part because he can temper his cruelty and egoism with the performance of a clown or a showman,” Bouie wrote.
He added, “[DeSantis] may be a more competent Trump in terms of his ability to use the levers of state to amass power, but he’s also meaner and more rigid, without the soft edges and eccentricity of the actual Donald Trump.”
Because when you think of the 45th president, the first thing you might think about is the “soft edges” in his personality.
This is obviously an attempt to paint DeSantis as even crueler and scarier than Trump. And it is driven by fears the Florida governor could be a potent 2024 contender.
However, Gutfeld is highlighting a significant issue in all the comparisons to Hitler with Trump or any other Republican.
When you compare someone and their actions to one of the worst mass murderers in history, you can’t apply the same comparison to a new person without saying, “Well, actually, what the previous guy was doing wasn’t really as bad as this current politician.”
It is possible to call out the actions of leaders as reprehensible and gross, without leaping to Hitler comparisons. But apparently, it is easier and more convenient to jump to the latter even if it now means suddenly suggesting that Trump had some “soft edges” about him.
