Steve Schmidt has called for an urgent investigation of federal agents in cities like Portland and suggested some of them may not be law enforcement officers at all.
The former adviser to Republican Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign took to Twitter on Thursday to make an alarming comparison with Nazi Germany.
“There is an urgent necessity for Congress and the media to investigate if there are ANY security contractors deployed alongside Federal ‘Agents’ thugs in any American city. There should be no opaqueness around this operation,” Schmidt wrote.
There is an urgent necessity for Congress and the media to investigate if there are ANY security contractors deployed alongside Federal “Agents†thugs in any American city. There should be no opaqueness around this operation. Who are these men armed with M-4’s equipped with
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— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 23, 2020
“Who are these men armed with M-4’s equipped with Suppressors. This is not law enforcement. We are witnessing state ordered violence being loosed on the citizens of our Constitutional Republic.”
He went on to compare recent incidents to an infamous event in the history of Nazi Germany – the Reichstag Fire. The burning of the German parliament was used as a pretext for Adolf Hitler’s government to rule by decree.
“Their objective is to spread chaos and incite fear. This is Trump’s rolling Reichstag fire,” Schmidt said.
“This is about one thing and one thing only. It is about his failing reelection campaign and his looming repudiation at the hands of the American people.”
In a long thread, Schmidt also compared Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to a Nazi.
“He is now functioning as the American equivalent of Ernst Rohm,” he said.
“He has taken command of an American Sturmabteilung. The men he commands are thuggish, violent and dangerous.”
“They are an untrained illiberal and dangerous force. This must be stopped. This is what Trumpistan looks like.”
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Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
