Republican Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania used a Nazi comparison to argue against modern Democrats in America, during a speech he gave June 11 at the conservative Pennsylvania Leadership Conference.
“We can acknowledge that maybe not every one of them is that way, but that doesn't matter,” Perry said.
“We've seen this throughout history, right? Not every not every citizen in Germany in the 1930s and ’40s was in the Nazi Party. They weren't. But what happened across Germany? That's what's important. What were the policies? What was the leadership? That's what we have to focus on.”
According to his official White House biography, Perry, who serves Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District, served in the military as a brigadier-general and is a member of the NRA. He is also a member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, founded in 2015. He said in his speech he knew he was a Republican since the first grade.
According to CNN, he was one of the 63 Republicans who voted "no" on the AAPI Hate Crimes Bill which was proposed after a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes hit America. He has also recently been criticized by publications such as The Washington Post and CNN for promoting "replacement theory," that "native-born" Americans are being replaced by immigrants as a way to change the culture of America, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this year.
He said in his speech, “It wasn't a government in Germany that took the people's rights away immediately. It was fascism. Fascism took it away, because the government put the heavy hand on the companies and the companies did the government's work. Well look around, ladies and gentlemen.” He also made sure to clarify later that he is not a member of "Antifa," which is an abbreviation of "anti-fascist."
"The Left are always coming... We have to be stronger and louder than them... They are destroying our economy. They are destroying our energy sector. They are going to do this if we let them, and we can not let them... Go fight them."
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has stated that these types of analogies are dangerous and exploitative, and disrespect Holocaust survivors and their families. These types of comparisons trivialize the Holocaust, and make light of the tragic event.