The White House ripped Donald Trump for echoing “fascists” after the former president compared President Joe Biden’s administration to the Gestapo, the secret police force of Nazi Germany.
“Instead of echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascists, lunching with Neo Nazis, and fanning debunked conspiracy theories that have cost brave police officer their lives, President Biden is bringing the American people together around our shared democratic values and the rule of law — an approach that has delivered the biggest violent crime reduction in 50 years,” said deputy press secretary Andrew Bates in a statement.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in remarks to a private Republican National Committee donor event at his Mar-a-Lago estate, hurled attacks at prosecutors in his legal cases before likening the Biden White House to a “Gestapo administration” on Saturday.
“And it’s the only thing they have,” said Trump, according to audio obtained by The New York Times.
“And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion, and it’s actually killing them. But it doesn’t bother me.”
Trump has previously faced backlash for echoing the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini when he pledged to “root out ... vermin” political foes and Biden’s reelection campaign slammed him for parroting Hitler with his “poisoning the blood of our country” comments last year, as well.
His recent event reportedly led to donations of $40,000 or greater from attendees. A Trump campaign official recently said that the former president and the Republican National Committee raised over $76 million last month.
CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who is among Republicans eyed as a potential 2024 running mate for Trump, over whether he’s “comfortable” with Trump’s comparison on Sunday.
“Relative to the reference you’re discussing, I mean this was a short comment deep into the thing that wasn’t really central to what he was talking about,” said Burgum, who attended the Trump event, before claiming the hush money trial is “politically motivated.”
He continued, “So I understand that he feels like he’s being unfairly treated and I think that’s reasonable that someone who’s being kept off the campaign trail as the presumptive nominee has got some frustration about that.”