White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said his share of controversial statements. But none quite compare to Tuesday’s, when he tried to make Hitler the lesser of two evils and reduced the horror of concentration camps to “Holocaust centers.”
Fittingly, people responded with outrage and some journalists even called for his termination.
“I do not see how Sean Spicer can be allowed to continue in his current position,” veteran journalist Dan Rather wrote shortly after Spicer’s stumble. “There can be no joy in such incompetence,” Rather said, blasting Spicer for “trying to make the case for the Administration’s policy in Syria and vis a vis Russia which is confused to be generous, and wildly chaotic to be more precise.”
Rather continued: “This line of rhetoric is so unhinged, so amateurish, so lacking in the context and perspective necessary for statesmanship and diplomacy that I do not see how Mr. Spicer can be allowed to continue in his current position.”
Esquire’s Charles Pierce published an article calling for Spicer’s termination. Its opening read: “Fire the man. Or let him resign. I don’t care. But do it now.”
Shortly after Spicer’s statement, the Anne Frank Center released its own statement, categorizing the top White House staffer as a Holocaust denier. “Trump must fire him at once!” Executive director Steven Goldstein said:
On Passover no less, Sean Spicer has engaged in Holocaust denial, the most offensive form of fake news imaginable, by denying Hitler gassed millions of Jews to death. Spicer’s statement is the most evil slur upon a group of people we have ever heard from a White House press secretary.
While conservative commentator Jon Podhoretz wasn’t willing to go quite as far as the Anne Frank Center, he did call Spicer a “blathering idiot”:
Sean Spicer is not a Holocaust denier or an anti-Semite or anything sinister. What he is is a blithering idiot.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) April 11, 2017
Sean Spicer should have his mouth sewn shut.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) April 11, 2017
Sean Spicer is hiring a press secretary for himself.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) April 11, 2017
Spicer has even lost Alex Jones. InfoWar’s Paul Joseph Watson had to alert Jones of Spicer’s comments on Tuesday, to which Jones expressed sheer disbelief.
“What the hell is that from Sean Spicer?” he questioned. Was he being sarcastic?” He added, “It shows how historically ignorant his crew is.”
WATCH: Alex Jones re Spicer “What the hell is that from Sean Spicer? Was he being sarcastic? It shows how historically ignorant his crew is” pic.twitter.com/z7qW1paIel
— Yashar (@yashar) April 11, 2017
Things have gotten so bad for Spicer that Democrats smell blood in the water.
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Calif., drafted a statement to demand Spicer be fired. “The President must immediately disavow his spokesman’s statements,” the House Minority Leader wrote. “Either he is speaking for the President, or the President should have known better than to hire him.”
.@realDonaldTrump, it’s time to fire @PressSec Sean Spicer. https://t.co/35sTqfkp1d pic.twitter.com/Lw73GVtKDh
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 11, 2017
Celebrities even got in on the pile-on.
Singer Barbara Streisand and actress Debra Messing encouraged the use of the hashtag #FireSpicer on Tuesday:
Sean Spicer should be fired for saying Hitler did not use chemical weapons on "his own people.” You mean 6 million Jews don’t count?
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) April 11, 2017
One particular tweet has been making the rounds by Jared Kander, president of the voting rights organization Let America Vote.
Sean Spicer should be fired because making up absurd, offensive lies is not his job.
His job is to repeat them.
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) April 11, 2017
