In a radio interview on Wednesday, the eldest son of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump casually joked that journalists would “be warming up the gas chamber” if Republicans behaved like Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump Jr. made the crass Holocaust reference during an appearance on Philadelphia's 1210 WPHT. Telling host Chris Stigall that "the media has been [Clinton's] No. 1 surrogate," Trump Jr. argued that the only thing fueling the Democratic nominee's campaign is "media bias."
"Without the media, this wouldn’t even be a contest, but the media has built her up," Trump Jr. argued:
They’ve let her slide on every indiscrepancy, on every lie, on every DNC game trying to get Bernie Sanders out of this thing. If Republicans were doing that, they’d be warming up the gas chamber right now.
The Anti-Defamation League was quick to respond to Trump Jr.'s remark, calling for an immediate retraction.
"Trivialization of the Holocaust and gas chambers is NEVER okay," a tweet from the group read:
.@DonaldJTrumpJr: We hope you understand the sensitivity and hurt of making Holocaust jokes. We hope you retract.https://t.co/jL2ZC9Z8pH
— ADL (@ADL_National) Sept. 15, 2016
In another interview Wednesday with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Trump Jr. dropped the campaign's standard talking points when he was asked why his father hasn’t released his tax returns yet. Instead of repeating the he’s-under-audit line, Trump Jr. suggested that his father was bucking a four decades-long bipartisan tradition because his returns would be too closely scrutinized.
“When asked why his father has not released his tax returns as presidential candidates have traditionally done, Trump Jr. said, "Because he’s got a 12,000-page tax return that would create . . . financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would detract from [his father’s] main message,” The Tribune-Review wrote.
And as Buzzfeed also reported, Trump Jr. continued to be plagued by pointed questions during his Pennsylvania media tour on Wednesday. When WTAE's Bob Mayo asked Trump Jr. about a Washington Post report about the Trump Foundation's improperly redirecting charitable donations, an aide quickly cut off the interview:
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