Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is joining the chorus against former President Donald Trump’s use of the word “vermin,” drawing parallels to the history of Europe in the 1930s and 40s. In a recent interview with MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Pritzker condemned the language which he believes echoes language used in Nazi Germany.
Illinois Gov. Pritzker doubles down on White House likening Trump to Hitler, Mussolini over 'vermin' remark https://t.co/FdCYeLWcqU
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Pritzker stated, “I don’t know where it’s going with Donald Trump. What I can tell you is that the things he talks about are frightening to those of us who know the history of Europe in the 1930s and 40s.”
He further expressed apprehension about what he called Trump’s “predilection for revenge,” especially concerning groups that didn’t support him in the 2024 election, should he be elected.
While getting to his point, Pritzker drew parallels to the past, saying, “Let me just be clear, in Germany, in the 1930s, people that they didn’t want to have power, people that they wanted to separate, segregate. They began calling them immigrants, even people who had been in Germany for generations. Jews who were doctors, lawyers in government at the time became known as immigrants, even though they were German.”
“And this is a way to begin to segregate people, and then eventually, at least what happened in Germany, is that they turned it into a way to almost dehumanize. And then they did in fact dehumanize and kill people,” he added.
The governor was referring to a recent Trump speech in Claremont, N.H., where Trump vowed to root out what he called “communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs” within the country, describing them as “vermin.”
During the long speech, Trump argued that the internal threat is more significant than external ones from countries like Russia, China, or North Korea, provided the U.S. has strong leadership.
“The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within. Because if you have a capable, competent, smart, tough leader, Russia, China, North Korea, they’re not going to want to play with us,” he warned.
Critics had picked up on Trump’s use of “vermin” and claimed that it dehumanizes political opponents, akin to how Adolf Hitler and others gained power in 1930s Germany. Condemning the comment, the White House said, “Employing words like ‘vermin’ to describe anyone who makes use of their basic right to criticize the government ‘echoes dictators’ like Hitler and Mussolini.”
Speaking to reporters, spokesman Andrew Bates went on to add that terms like that are “unrecognizable” to America’s founders as well as veterans “who put on their country’s uniform in the 1940s.”
Trump has, however, decried the comparisons to Nazis, Hitler and Mussolini, as his campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.”
