The Jewish Democratic Council of America is facing backlash after it produced a campaign ad that compared America under President Trump to Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.
The video, titled “Hate doesn’t stop itself, it must be stopped,” features a split screen with footage of Trump rallies, and by its side footage of nazi rallies from the 1930s.
For good measure, the Democrats threw in images of white supremacists from Charlottesville in 2017, as well as images from the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue attack.
Watch:
“History shows us what happens when leaders use hatred and nationalism to divide their people,” the narrator on the video states.
“As antisemitism and white nationalism rise to dangerous levels in America, we are all less secure. It’s time to show that we’ve learned from the darkest moments in history. Hate doesn’t stop itself. It must be stopped. Vote — our future depends on it,” the narration continues.
The ad is being targeted at Jewish voters in swing states such as Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The video is so crude that even the ADL, which routinely labels Trump a white supremacist, has denounced it as “deeply offensive”:
The video from @USJewishDems is the latest in growing references to Hitler, Goebbels or other Nazi leaders. This has no place in the presidential race and is deeply offensive to the memories of 6M+ Jews systematically exterminated during the Shoah. https://t.co/pvO89COrI6
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) September 29, 2020
“This has no place in the presidential race and is deeply offensive to the memories of 6M+ Jews systematically exterminated during the Shoah,” ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.
“We urge leaders & their surrogates to refrain from invoking the #Holocaust in the context of the current election. It is not the same. Stay focused on the issues,” Greenblatt added.
At the same time, we urge leaders & their surrogates to refrain from invoking the #Holocaust in the context of the current election. It is not the same. Stay focused on the issues.
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) September 29, 2020
The American Jewish Committee and Simon Wiesenthal Center have also called for the video to be removed.
JDCA’s executive director, Halie Soifer, defended the ad, stating “We’re not calling Donald Trump a Nazi.”
“We are warning against the ominous parallel of the rise of Nazism and the use of hatred for political purposes and the numerous signs that Donald Trump is doing the same,” Soifer added.
The Trump campaign responded to the ad with the following statement:
President Trump is the greatest ally the State of Israel has ever had in the White House. As Democrats increase their false attacks against the President, Jewish Americans can see the truth for themselves through the President’s actions to fight against anti-Semitism, sign the historic Abraham Accords doing what no other President was able to do and bring peace to the Middle East, recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and tear up the disastrous Iran nuclear deal from the Obama-Biden administration.
The development comes in the wake of repeated comparisons of Trump’s America to Nazi Germany by Democrats.
Last weekend, Joe Biden directly compared Trump to the chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels:
.@JoeBiden liken @realDonaldTrump to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels helped carry out the systematic murder of more than six million Jewish people. This is unacceptable, offensive and demeans the memory of the Holocaust. Biden must apologize! pic.twitter.com/HgncgsHQbe
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) September 27, 2020
Meanwhile, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said Thursday that she resents anyone who claims Trump is not a racist, saying that the US has a “fascist in the White House.”
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