Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) just joined the ranks of conservatives making ridiculous comparisons to the Holocaust. (Watch the video below.)
In a floor speech on Tuesday, the freshman House member criticized DirecTV for dropping the far-right network Newsmax.
For the record, the TV provider said it ditched Newsmax because the station demanded a rate increase. DirecTV then replaced it with another right-wing network, “The First,” which has Bill O’Reilly as one of its stars.
But Burlison claimed to see something more sinister afoot. He accused DirecTV of trying to “silence conservative speech,” arguing that it dumped the One America News network and is now “going after Newsmax.” He suggested the situation is reminiscent of the early stages of Nazi Germany’s brutal mass murder of Jews, Polish people, Romani people, gay people, people with disabilities and countless others.
“You know, there’s a famous quote about what happened during the Holocaust, when individuals ― when the Nazis first came for some, and people said nothing, and then eventually they’ll come for you,” he said. “I say this not as a Republican or a Missourian, but as a concerned citizen for a country who has these rights that were here because of the blood that was shed by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of patriots from the time of the American Revolution until today.”
Burlison can now count himself in some pretty clueless company when it comes to offering Holocaust comparisons, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), right-wing commentator Glenn Beck and GOP Washington state Rep. Jim Walsh.