Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), an influential Democrat who was key to President Biden’s last campaign, is warning that the U.S. could soon descend into something akin to early Nazi Germany as he urges voters to reject former President Trump this year.
Why it matters: Biden’s support among Black and young voters has faltered as Democrats prepare to hold their first primary in South Carolina next month.
State of play: Clyburn, who has been outspoken about Trump since the 2016 election, has struggled to rally young Black voters behind President Biden in his home state, NBC News reported.
- He’s asking voters to compare Trump’s record regarding Black Americans to Biden’s, arguing the former president “time and time again demonstrates misogynistic tendencies and racist attitudes.”
- “I just hope that in 2024 we not going to find ourselves as a country falling into what Germany fell into in 1932,” Clyburn said, per NBC.
Flashback: In a 2020 interview with Axios, then-House Majority Whip Clyburn raised similar concerns about Trump and his family, saying they were a threat to democracy.
- “I do believe that if this country, this electorate, is not definitive in this election, this year, this country could very well go the way of Germany in the 1930s,” Clyburn said at the time.
- “I really believe that the people of Germany knew Adolf Hitler was lying, but they cheered him on,” he added. “And before they knew it, they no longer had a chancellor, but a dictator.”
Zoom out: Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in multiple jurisdictions, won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire GOP primary earlier this month.
Source: Axios
