前总统唐纳德·特朗普本周末发誓“根除”他的政治对手专家和特朗普的批评者说，特朗普警告支持者说，美国最大的威胁来自“内部”，这是重复阿道夫·希特勒和本尼托·墨索里尼等法西斯独裁者言论的极端言论。
特朗普竞选发言人驳斥了对他在新罕布什尔州退伍军人节集会上讲话的反弹，但一些历史学家表示，这种相似之处令人担忧。
作家兼历史学家乔恩·米查姆(Jon Meacham)在MSNBC的《早安，乔》(Morning Joe)中说，“把你的对手称为‘害虫’，把他们非人化，不仅是打开了大门，也是走进了最可怕的犯罪之门。”
周六，正在寻求第二个白宫任期的特朗普在新罕布什尔州克莱尔蒙特的史蒂文斯高中礼堂对拥挤的人群说:“我们将把美国放在第一位，今天，特别是为了纪念退伍军人节上我们伟大的退伍军人，我们向你们保证，我们将铲除共产党人，马克思主义者，法西斯主义者和激进的左翼暴徒，他们像害虫一样生活在我们国家的范围内。“
他指责这些团体做了任何“摧毁美国和摧毁美国梦”的事情，并继续重复他毫无根据的选举欺诈指控。
集会的一个主题是“通过实力实现和平”，特朗普吹嘘自己在世界舞台上的领导地位堪比乔·拜登总统。
“真正的威胁不是来自激进的右翼。真正的威胁来自激进的左派，”他告诉与会者，引来赞同的喊声。“它每天都在增长。来自外部势力的威胁远不如来自内部的威胁险恶、危险和严重。我们的威胁来自内部。因为如果你有一个能干、有能力、聪明、强硬的领导人——俄罗斯、中国、朝鲜，他们不会想和我们玩。”
就在周六下午上台之前，特朗普在他的社交媒体平台上发布了类似的消息。
这些言论立即遭到了批评者的反对，批评者长期以来一直质疑特朗普用夸张的侮辱攻击他人的习惯，历史学家则表示，他最近的言论与臭名昭著的威权主义者有着令人不安的相似之处。
“请告诉我们，这是否让你想起任何更早的历史人物，”NBC的总统历史学家迈克尔·贝施洛斯(Michael Beschloss)在x。
“这和《我的奋斗》不一样。”这是教科书《我的奋斗》(Mein Kampf)，”耶鲁大学教授、《法西斯主义是如何运作的》一书的作者杰森·斯坦利(Jason Stanley)在谈到川普对MSNBC的评论时说。斯坦利指的是希特勒上台前出版的一本书。
斯坦利告诉美国广播公司新闻说:“特朗普的评论特别令人想起希特勒对马克思主义者和社会主义者的咆哮——希特勒还谴责亲民主力量是马克思主义者。”
“从另一方面来说，这比纳粹宣传更糟糕，”他说。“请记住，在20世纪20年代和30年代，欧洲确实存在共产主义反民主的威胁，而今天的美国不存在这种威胁。"
特朗普发言人张致恒在一份声明中拒绝将特朗普比作希特勒和墨索里尼。
“那些试图做出这种荒谬断言的人显然是抓住任何东西的雪花，因为他们患有特朗普神经病综合症，当特朗普总统返回白宫时，他们可悲、悲惨的存在将被粉碎，”张说。
在退伍军人节集会上，在谈到他面临的法律挑战时，特朗普还提出了如果他回到白宫，可能会对他的政治敌人进行报复，尽管他说，“我不想这么做。”
他再次表示，他在四起刑事案件中面临的指控是出于政治原因，尽管检察官为他们的工作进行了辩护。特朗普不认罪，否认所有不当行为。
拜登竞选团队一直在加大对特朗普竞选活动的回应，抨击他的“害虫”言论是在支持“非美国理念”。
竞选发言人阿马尔·穆萨说:“在大多数美国人纪念我们国家的英雄的周末，唐纳德·特朗普鹦鹉学舌般地重复阿道夫·希特勒和本尼托·墨索里尼的专制语言——这两位独裁者是许多美国退伍军人为之献出生命的，目的是击败特朗普现在倡导的非美国理念。”。
“唐纳德·特朗普认为他可以通过分裂我们的国家来获胜。他错了，他将在明年11月发现到底错了多少，”穆萨说。
上个月，特朗普在接受右翼网站国民脉搏(National Pulse)采访时表示，没有证件的移民正在“毒害美国的血液”，这遭到了批评者的强烈抗议。他重申了自己长期以来的主张，即恐怖分子、罪犯和精神病患者正通过边境入境。
白宫发言人在一份声明中说《每日野兽》当时称这一评论是“可恶的”和“危险的”，称“领导人的作用是把人们团结在一起;永远不要用分裂和自私的毒药让他们反目成仇。”
共和党全国委员会主席罗娜·麦克丹尼尔(Ronna McDaniel)在美国全国广播公司(NBC)和美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)的周日新闻节目中被问及特朗普的“害虫”言论时，一再拒绝发表评论。
“我要说的是:我知道特朗普总统支持我们的退伍军人，”麦克丹尼尔在“会见媒体”上说。
Trump compares political opponents to 'vermin' who he will 'root out,' alarming historians
Former President Donald Trump vowed this weekendto "root out" his political opponents, who he said "live like vermin" as he warned supporters that America's greatest threats come "from within" -- extreme rhetoric that echoes the words of fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, experts and Trump's critics said.
A Trump campaign spokesman dismissed the backlash to his speech, at a Veterans Day rally in New Hampshire, but some historians said the parallels were alarming.
"To call your opponent 'vermin,' to dehumanize them, is to not only open the door but to walk through the door toward the most ghastly kinds of crimes," writer and historian Jon Meacham said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Speaking to a packed crowd inside Stevens High School auditorium in Claremont, New Hampshire, on Saturday, Trump, who is seeking a second term in the White House, said: "We will put America first and today, especially in honor of our great veterans on Veterans Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country."
He accused these groups of doing anything "to destroy America and to destroy the American dream" and he went on to repeat his baseless claims of election fraud.
A major theme of the rally was "peace through strength," and Trump boasted of his own leadership on the world stage in comparison to President Joe Biden.
"The real threat is not from the radical right. The real threat is from the radical left," he told attendees, drawing shouts of agreement. "It's growing every day, every single day. 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 gonna want to play with us."
Just before he took the stage on Saturday afternoon, Trump posted a similar message on his social media platform.
The comments received immediate pushback, both from critics who have long challenged Trump's habit of attacking others with hyperbolic insults and from historians who said his latest remarks had an unsettling resemblance to those of infamous authoritarians.
"Please tell us if this reminds you of any earlier historical figure," NBC's presidential historian Michael Beschloss wrote on X.
"It doesn't echo 'Mein Kampf.' This is textbook 'Mein Kampf,'" Yale University professor Jason Stanley, author of "How Fascism Works," said about Trump's comments on MSNBC. Stanley was referring to a book published by Hitler before his rise to power.
"Trump's comments are remarkably evocative particularly of Hitler's rants against Marxists and socialists -- Hitler also decried pro-democratic forces as Marxist," Stanley told ABC News.
"In another regard, this is worse than Nazi propaganda," he said. "Bear in mind that there was actually a communist anti-democratic threat in Europe in the 1920s and '30s, and there is none in America today."
In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung rejected the comparisons to Hitler and Mussolini.
"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," Cheung said.
At the Veterans Day rally, while talking about legal challenges he's facing, Trump also floated the possibility of retribution against his political enemies if he returns to the White House, though he said, "I don't want to do that."
He again suggested that the charges he faces in four criminal cases were brought for political reasons, though prosecutors have defended their work. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies all wrongdoing.
The Biden campaign, which has been ramping up their responses to Trump's campaign trail activities, slammed his "vermin" rhetoric as championing "un-American ideas."
"On a weekend when most Americans were honoring our nation's heroes, Donald Trump parroted the autocratic language of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini - two dictators many U.S. veterans gave their lives fighting, in order to defeat exactly the kind of un-American ideas Trump now champions," said campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa.
"Donald Trump thinks he can win by dividing our country. He's wrong, and he'll find out just how wrong next November," Moussa said.
Last month, Trump faced outcry from critics when he said during an interview with The National Pulse, a right-wing website, that immigrants who are in the country without documentation are "poisoning the blood" of America. He repeated his longstanding claim that terrorists, criminals and those with mental illness are coming in through the borders.
A White House spokesperson in a statementto The Daily Beastat the time called the comment "abhorrent" and "dangerous," saying, "The role of leaders is to bring people together; never to turn them against one another with divisive, self-serving poison."
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel repeatedly refused to weigh in on Trump's "vermin" comments when asked during her appearances on NBC and CNN's Sunday news shows.
"I will say this: I know President Trump supports our veterans," McDaniel said on "Meet the Press."
