Spicer's Hitler Analogy Goes Horribly Awry

Sean Spicer is being hit with a wave of criticism—the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect is even calling for his firing—after he said Hitler wasn't that bad compared to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, at least in one specific area. "Hitler didn't even sink to the level of using chemical weapons," Vox quotes the press secretary as saying during a press conference Tuesday. CNN reports there was an "audible gasp" from reporters following the comment. Understandable, because Hitler, in fact, used gas to kill millions of Jews in the Holocaust. He also used gas to kill disabled people and other groups.

Spicer only dug himself deeper when he attempted to clarify what he meant. "He was not using the gas on his own people in the same way that Assad is doing," Spicer said. "He brought them into Holocaust centers, I understand that." That clarification managed to invent a new term for concentration camps and possibly imply that German Jews were not real Germans. Spicer finally specified that he meant Hitler didn't use chemical weapons on the battlefield, USA Today reports. Despite insisting he wasn't "trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust," the Anne Frank Center is accusing Spicer of Holocaust denial. Spicer's original point, now firmly buried by his invocation of Hitler, was that Russia shouldn't continue to support Assad. (More Adolf Hitler stories.)