In denying comparisons of former President Donald Trump to fascist dictators Hitler and Mussolini for his Veteran's Day comments dubbing his political opponents "vermin," spokesman Steven Cheung told The Washington Post that “those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” Cheung also later clarified that he meant to say their “sad, miserable existence" instead of their “entire existence.”
But legal experts and historians warned that the vehement denial only provides more evidence to support the validity of their assertions. "Well that's something to look forward to!" New York University historian Ruth Ben Ghiat joked on X/Twitter. "Also, 'their entire existence will be crushed' is exactly how dictators speak," she added. "In denying that Trump sounds like a Nazi, his spokesman sounds a lot like .. Goebbels," Bill Grueskin, a Columbia Journalism School professor, tweeted, referring to the Nazi Party's chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Other experts continued to mock Cheung for his statement. "To be filed under: If you say I am a dictator, I will crush you like a dictator," former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissman said. "Dictator’s spokesman making clear what the dictator will do," Joe Walsh, a former U.S. Representative for Illinois and Republican 2020 presidential candidate, tweeted. "Good God. So what to do about the fact that tens of millions of American voters - including nearly every Republican member of the House and Senate will commit to vote for this?" civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Iffil added. "THAT should be the focus."
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