Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) compared President Donald Trump and the Republican Party to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in a speech on Tuesday.
Speaking at an Atlanta NAACP event to mark the anniversary of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, Johnson warned his listeners to be diligent against the rise of tyranny and harkened back to Hitler's rise in Germany in the early 1930s.
"Much like how Hitler took over the Nazi party, Trump has taken over the Republican Party," Johnson said in video posted by the Atlanta NAACP and reported by Fox News. "It's now known as the Trump Republican Party."
"[Hitler] rode a wave of nationalism and anti-Semitism to power. Replace anti-Semitism with 'All Latinos crossing our borders are rapists, drug dealers and murderers.' Does that sound familiar?" Johnson asked, to voices of approval. "Hitler was accepting of violence towards the achievement of political objectives. Trump encouraged violence against protesters at his rallies."
He also slammed Trump over his "both sides" remarks about the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
"Hitler did not start the Nazi Party, but he took over the party with charisma and leadership," Johnson said in another implicit reference to Trump's takeover of Republicans.
"Americans elected an authoritarian, an anti-immigrant, racist strongman to the nation’s highest office," Johnson said. "Donald Trump and his 'Make America Great Again' followers … want to return American back to a time where white men and white privilege were unchallenged, and where minorities and women were in their place."
The Georgia Democrat made a number of eyebrow-raising remarks in the speech, including referring to Asian-Americans as "Oriental people."
Johnson was forced to apologize in 2016 after likening Jewish settlers in the West Bank to "termites." He also drew national attention in 2010 when he asked at a House Armed Services Committee hearing whether the presence of U.S. troops in Guam could potentially cause the island to tip over.