Democratic Rep. John Garamendi (Calif.) said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's actions in office are reminiscent of the press restrictions in Nazi Germany.
Garamendi appeared on CNN to criticize how Trump has attacked the press and said that he is willing to impeach or restrict Trump's powers as commander in chief. Garamendi described two different ways Trump presents himself, and he argued that the real Trump is "totally, totally out of control."
"One, Trump using a teleprompter: very nice words, very conciliatory words, almost certainly written by somebody other than Trump," Garamendi said. "Then the night before, we saw the real Trump: a man that is totally, totally out of control and engaged in rhetoric that slams the press which, by the way, happens to be the very first thing that a dictator will do to secure his position."
Garamendi said that delegitimizing the press is part of his pathological lying that he has done throughout his campaign and presidency. To him, Trump was unable to fulfill the role of the president when other nations cannot rely on his leadership.
"What is he really going to do?" Garamendi asked. "There is no way to know because the truth is constantly changing in his mind."
He said Trump's lying and tendency toward totalitarianism are reminiscent of Nazi Germany, again focusing on the press.
"If one were to look at Nazi Germany, that was the very early part of their tenure was to delegitimize the press," Garamendi said. "They constantly attacked the press."
"We count on the free press in this nation as a source, a counterbalance to Congress, to the presidency, to the power of government," Garamendi said. "It is extremely important that it not be delegitimized, and all the words he's using, 'fake press,' on and on, are all part of that."
Host Wolf Blitzer asked whether he genuinely believed Trump sought a dictatorship.
"He is certainly power hungry," Garamendi said. "There's no doubt about that. The words that he's used during this campaign — 'I will do this, I am the only person that can do this or that.'"
"He certainly wants to push the Congress aside," he added. "He's already taken into the judicial system by going after federal judges, and it goes on and on. This man is clearly not fit to be president."