Sean Spicer: Hitler Didn't Even Sink to Using Chemical Weapons
History Check
Discussing President Trump's attack on Syria, Press Secretary Sean decided to emphasize the cruelty of the Assad regime by drawing comparisons to Hitler. The problem was that Spicer explained it as, "You had someone as despicable as Hitler, who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons."
This is empirically wrong as Hitler did use chemical weapons. He used them a lot. The most prominent example is his use of cyanide gas in the murder of millions of Jews in gas chambers like the one shown below.
A reporter gave him the opportunity to walk back on the statement and clarify, but instead of making anything resembling a correction he rambled on. He claimed, "When it comes to sarin gas, [Hitler] was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing."
It's worth noting that Hitler did use chemical weapons, although not sarin gas, on his own people. These people include German Jews, political enemies, and those who spoke out against him and as a result millions of innocent people died.
Spicer also also referred to concentration camps as "Holocaust centers."
After the confrences and seeing the media outrage, Spicer released a statement explaining,
In no way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust, however, I was trying to draw a contrast of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on innocent people.
He later clarified that statement replacing 'innocent people' with 'population centers.'
Media Outrage
The statement was rightfully criticized by the media and the public. After everything he's done, there was no chance people were going to let these statements slide without being addressed, especially during Passover.
Not the First Time
This is not the first time Sean Spicer has received media backlash.
One the first day of the new administration he famously fought against the claim that the attendance at President Trump's inauguration was significantly lower than that of President Obama's and the controversy has not stopped.
Other notable examples include the made up terrorist attack in Atlanta, claims that Nordstrom dropping Ivanka Trump's line was a 'direct attack,' a claim that Trump didn't mean 'wiretapping' when he said 'wiretapping,' and lashing out at the press.
If any good as come out of this is the spoofs released by Saturday Night Live.
There's Still Two Questions
Is Sean Spicer an idiot or just ignorant?
Also, should Sean Spicer be fired?
