Biden doubles down on Trump-Hitler comparisons ahead of 2024 rematch

The idea that former President Donald Trump would govern like a fascist is almost as old as his political career itself.

The term was used freely by the Left as the former president cracked down on illegal immigration and pursued a “law and order” agenda.

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Conservatives rejected the label as liberal hysteria after his surprise election in 2016, and establishment Democrats were more circumspect in their use of such analogies.

But the Biden campaign is now leaning heavily into the comparison as the president faces a possible rematch with Trump in 2024.

President Joe Biden and his aides have been openly likening Trump to German dictator Adolf Hitler in recent days, pointing to statements from the two that the campaign says are similar.

In doing so, Team Biden is likely hoping to gin up his base but also tap into the bloc of suburban voters turned off by the former president’s rhetoric.

Two Trump statements in particular have come under scrutiny and drawn comparisons to the Fuhrer. The first is his vow to “root out” political opponents who he said “live like vermin” within the country. The second is his claim that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” while pledging to secure the southern border.

Biden’s campaign has responded by saying that Trump had “channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin.”

The president himself has gotten in on the controversy as well.

“It echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the ’30s,” Biden said during a Dec. 6 campaign stop in Washington, though he’s made a version of the claim multiple times. “How many times have you heard any political person refer to another opponent as ‘vermin’ other than when you read your history on the Nazi era?”

Trump has distanced himself from the comparison, saying he has “never read Mein Kampf” amid the accusations. Neither the Biden nor Trump campaigns responded to questions from the Washington Examiner.

Comparing any politician to Hitler will certainly get the attention of voters. The risk for Biden’s camp is that the electorate will see it as alarmist rhetoric rather than a call to action.

Republican strategist David Carney says the dictator analogies only show that Biden doesn’t want to run on his record.

“There’s a lack of enthusiasm [for Biden], so they’re trying to manufacture these gigantic controversies to try and get their base more enthused,” he said. “It’s really malpractice on their part.”

Carney points to Biden’s low approval ratings on the economy and immigration to argue that the Hitler talk smacks of desperation.

“It shows their lack of confidence that they can win on the issues,” he said. “Apparently they don’t think the economy will get better either.”

A Des Moines Register poll found that GOP voters are unlikely to abandon Trump over his “blood” and “vermin” comments. The poll reported that 42% of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers say the remarks make them more likely to vote for Trump. Just 28% said it would make them less likely to support Trump, while 29% were undecided.

Not all Republicans are comfortable with Trump’s rhetoric. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) described it as “unhelpful,” while Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told reporters that “we’re all children of immigrants.”

Some Democrats may worry that Biden is taking things over the top himself with talk about Nazis, but party strategist Sasha Tirador isn’t one of them.

“It’s about time,” she said. “Democrats have been very cautious all of these years about calling him out, but [a dictator is] exactly what he sounds like.”

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Tirador says Trump has sounded like a dictator since early in his first campaign and that she’s glad to see his Democratic rivals calling it as they see it.

“Those Democrats, like me, who would rather see a more confrontational approach to politics have been accusing the Biden administration of lagging in their responses to Trump,” she said. “They don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But if you repeat something Hitler said, who do you sound like? Mickey Mouse? No, you sound like Hitler! It’s time to call a spade a spade.”