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Joy Reid Likens Coverage of Trump to Media's Treatment of Hitler in 1930s

'There's a sense that conservatism is normal, and that white conservative men are the norm'

August 27, 2019

MSNBC's AM Joy host Joy Reid on Sunday likened the coverage of President Donald Trump to the media's treatment of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

Reid and her panel spent several minutes going after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and claimed he was helping Trump allegedly empower white nationalism, according to Newsbusters.

After other panelists spoke, Reid jumped into the conversation to suggest McConnell was intentionally trying to destroy the United States for minorities before they gain power in the future.

"You know, somebody said to me this week, I thought was so smart, that it's almost as if Mitch McConnell's plan is that they know the demographics are what they are, and that the only way they're willing to hand power to the non-white majority in this country ever is if the country is completely a shell and broke, and they'll hand them the broken pieces and keep all the wealth for themselves," Reid said.

Later in the segment, Reid attempted to compare the "benign" media coverage of Hitler to modern-day coverage of Trump.

"I have this old set of New York Times front covers ... to show how benign the coverage was even in the 1930s, as the world was about to burn down in World War II," Reid said. "And the just sort of benign things, you know, it's like a tick of wanting to see world leaders—in that case of Germany—they just want to see them as normal and I don't know where that comes from, but it is really—and I think it wouldn't be so if those leaders were not white men, I have to say."

"White Republican men," a panelist said.

"White Republican—white conservative [men]. There's a sense that conservatism is normal, and that white conservative men are the norm, and that anything but that—I mean, you almost have Elizabeth Warren almost being depicted as some sort of crazy communist when she's a totally normal politician who just wants people to have health care," Reid continued.

This isn't the first time Hitler has been invoked to talk about the Trump administration. The former chair of psychiatry at Duke University Allen Frances on Sunday claimed Trump "may be responsible for many more million deaths" than dictators Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. CNN host Don Lemon said back in June that Trump's immigration rhetoric could lead him down the same path as Hitler, saying it starts with "little lies."

MSNBC host Donny Deutsch also invoked a Nazi comparison in May.