Leading Democrat DEFENDS US follows similar path to Nazi rise: Rep. Jim Clyburn says there are “parallels” with Germany in the 1930s and democracy will “end” if Republicans win midterm elections
- Rep. Jim Clyburn is the third-highest ranking Democratic member of the House of Representatives
- On Sunday, he went back and claimed a GOP win meant the world was “ending.”
- He said “democracy will end” if Republicans win on Tuesday
- Clyburn also said there were “parallels” between Germany in the 1930s and the United States
- Democrats have turned their attention to warning of the threats to democracy
- Polls still show that the economy is the top concern of American voters
One of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress has doubled down on his claim that there are comparisons between the US today and Germany in the 1930s, when the Nazis were gaining popularity.
Just two days before the midterm election, James Clyburn, Whip of the House majority, told Fox News Sunday that “democracy will end” if the Democrats lose the midterms.
Clyburn responded to earlier comments that a loss for the Democrats would be the end of the world and said he had “spoken wrong”.
However, he insisted that stand-outs in the Republican Party posed a threat to American democracy.
“The world will not end. The kind of world we have, the kind of country we have — we have to decide how we want to exist in that world, and that’s what we’re talking about,” he told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.
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Days before the midterm election, James Clyburn, Whip of the House majority, told Fox News Sunday that “democracy will end” if the Democrats lose the midterms
Clyburn added that he also sees parallels in the US today with Germany in the 1930s before Adolf Hitler came to power.
“I’ve studied history all my life. I taught history. And I tell you, what I see here are parallels to the history of this world in 1930s Germany.”
He was invited to the network on Sunday, following an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, in which he accused the rights of causing the conditions that led to the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband last week .
“This country is on track to repeat what happened in Germany when it was the largest democracy, when it elected a chancellor who then co-opted the media,” he told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“This former president called the press the enemy of the people. This is a bunch of crap. And that is what is happening in this country.”
Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, on the way to becoming an absolute dictator.
Clyburn alluded to the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1930s Germany when he attacked Republicans
Last Wednesday, Biden addressed a call to his supporters in which he described the stakes in the midterm elections.
“We the people must decide whether the rule of law will prevail or whether we will allow the forces of darkness to thirst — that thirst for power that precedes the principles that have long guided us,” he said.
Republicans reacted furiously to the speech but pointed out that the election is likely to be dominated by pocketbook questions rather than broad appeals to democracy.
But since control of the Senate is delicately balanced, Biden’s audience may well have consisted of Democratic supporters still trying to decide whether to bother to vote.
“American democracy is under attack because the defeated former President of the United States refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election,” Biden said
“He refuses to accept the will of the people. He refuses to accept the fact that he lost.’
Republicans also accused Biden of playing two sides — accusing her of demonizing opponents while doing the exact same thing themselves.
Clyburn said they were different things.
President Joe Biden linked the attack on Paul Pelosi to former President Donald Trump and his refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 presidential election
Nancy Pelosi is pictured here having dinner with her husband Paul in December 2019; Biden opened his speech by discussing last week’s attack on Paul
“Give me the name and maybe even the address of the person he demonized,” he said.
“He spoke about a philosophy that is taking place in this country. He didn’t credit anyone who didn’t want to go in that window and aim for busts. And hit him on the head with a hammer. He had never demonized a human.
He echoed Biden by saying the choice in Tuesday’s elections boiled down to a choice between autocracy and democracy.
And when asked why voters should ignore record inflation and high gas prices to keep the Democrats in power, he downplayed the role of economic concerns in voting decisions.
“I think people should vote in their own interest. And their self-interest is far greater than what you may or may not pay for gas or a loaf of bread.’