In a Saturday interview with MSNBCs Stephanie Ruhle, Joe Bidens remarks were short on self-awareness and long on hypocrisy. But nothing drew more hyperpartisan discussion than when Biden likened President Trump to virulently anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

After decrying the presidents propensity for using personal attacks and lies against his opponents, Biden engaged in the basest form of personal attack, saying Trump is sort of like Goebbels. You say the lie long enough, keep repeating, repeating, repeating it it becomes common knowledge.

Responses to Bidens clumsy and inaccurate allusion were split, mostly along party lines. Many displayed appropriate disgust with the insinuation that the president has anything in common with a man who, as the Daily Callers David Hookstead tweeted, helped carry out the systematic murder of more than six million Jewish people. The Republican Jewish Coalition issued a call for Biden to apologize for his egregious comment. Even former Democratic New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind expressed outrage, saying Biden desecrated the memory of six million Jews who were murdered.

Many Democrats, on the other hand, applauded Bidens jab for its alleged accuracy. Twitter account BetoMedia agreed with the characterization but lamented how former Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourke had been denounced for using similar terminology earlier in the election cycle. In a factually incorrect and particularly despicable tweet from notorious Trump-hater Judd Apatow, the filmmaker took Bidens remarks further, stating Trump is murdering his countrymen and letting everyone die for personal gain.

The Democratic Party playbook of comparing Trump to various Nazi figureheads continues to be employed because it works thanks to ignorance of Nazi atrocities. On September 16, a study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany showed that most millennials and members of Generation Z are unaware of the extent of the Nazis genocide. Couple this with our entrenchment in our respective political camps, and it is no surprise that people are willing to believe that members of opposition political parties are like, literally Nazis. And so, fueled by the same kind of hate that motivated the Third Reich, Nazi analogies thrive.

Whether you like him or not, Trump is no Goebbels. Charged with control over film, radio, theater, and the press, the propaganda minister shaped the social environment in which all threatening ideas were purged from German society as Hitler consolidated power and prepared for war. Subjected to a constant diet of Goebbels propaganda, the vast majority of Germans would stand idly by as their Jewish and other undesirable neighbors were rounded up and shipped to ghettos or forced labor and extermination camps. Under Goebbels propaganda apparatus, 6 million Jews and multiple millions of non-Jews died by the time World War II ended.

Likening Trump to Goebbels trivializes a history of horrific, calculated genocide. It supports the environment we find ourselves in today, where the Holocaust is the butt of horrible anti-Semitic jokes, like the discovery by Stop Antisemitism that a Google search for Jewish baby stroller turns up images of grills.

Especially in the midst of this contentious election cycle, as hatred and anti-Semitism rage around us, the country needs a strong, nonpartisan voice to condemn Bidens harmful rhetoric. As a respected organization fighting anti-Semitism and hatred around the country, this task absolutely falls to the Anti-Defamation League. Unfortunately, the ADL, which issues frequent condemnations of Trump, has made no comment about Bidens remarks. Its lack of denunciation is tacit approval of Bidens words.

Condemning the misuse of Holocaust terminology and history is an issue that transcends political allegiance. Anyone utilizing the Holocaust to make irrelevant political points has both minimized a terrible atrocity and failed to truly understand how and why hatred was weaponized by the Nazis. Regardless of our politics, we should demand more of our leaders, particularly at this time of incredible tension. Most importantly, we should all recall one of the most important lessons of the Holocaust, that it is vital for us to remember the humanity in our opponents and allies alike, no matter the circumstances.

Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area who frequently covers Holocaust history and anti-Semitism.

See the rest here:
Joe Biden compared Trump to Joseph Goebbels. Where is the ADL's condemnation? - Washington Examiner