GOP Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.) on Monday quoted Adolf Hitler’s writing while excoriating “socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies” for propagating a “big lie” about alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“For more than two years, socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies — CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Washington Post and countless others — have perpetrated the biggest political lie, con, scam and fraud in American history,” Brooks said during a five-minute speech on the House floor.
{mosads}The Alabama congressman blasted Democrats and the media for their “big lie scam.” At one point, he accused them of inspiring violence against Americans who support President Trump by perpetuating false allegations related to collusion.
Hitler wrote about the “big lie” theory in his 1925 autobiographical book, “Mein Kampf.”
“America must reject [Democrats and the media’s] ‘big lies’ or succumb to the danger that lurks, and horrific damage that results,” Brooks said.
“If socialists in the fake news media had any honor, they would cleanse their souls and atone for their sins by uttering mea culpas,” Brooks continued. “More likely however, they will double down and propagate even more big lies. Because doubling down is central to big lie theory.”
“In that vein, I quote from another socialist who mastered big-lie propaganda to a maximum and deadly effect,” Brooks added, before quoting Hitler.
” ‘In the big lie, there is always a certain force of credibility because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods,’ ” he read, citing Hitler and using an English translation of “Mein Kampf,” according to AL.com.
“ ‘It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation,’ ” he continued the quote.
Brooks’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his remarks.
Attorney General William Barr on Sunday sent Congress a four-page summary that said special counsel Robert Mueller did not uncover evidence to conclude the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election.
Brooks said that the four-page summary from Barr “vindicates” Trump “from the socialist, baseless, and false ‘big lie’ charges of Russian election collusion.”
Barr’s letter said that Mueller did not reach a definitive conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice during the probe. But Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided Mueller did not provide sufficient evidence of obstruction of justice to pursue it.
GOP lawmakers and allies of Trump have used the findings to argue that Democrats and the media spread false narratives about alleged collusion.
The Anti-Defamation League on Monday called for Brooks to apologize for comparing Democratic lawmakers to Nazis.
“The vicious Nazi regime was responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews and millions more,” the organization said in a tweet. “This is dangerous.”