Trump says he is the ‘opposite of a Nazi’ after accusations that he’s fascist

ATLANTA - Former president Donald Trump, responding in some of the most direct terms yet to growing accusations that he is a fascist, declared here on Monday: “I am the opposite of a Nazi.”

The extraordinary declaration, made eight days before Election Day, follows a growing chorus of warnings over how the former president might govern if elected to serve a second term. Vice President Kamala Harris said last week that she agrees with assessments that Trump is a fascist after his former chief of staff told the New York Times that Trump would rule like a dictator and that, while in office, said Adolf Hitler “did some good things.” Trump has denied making the comments.

The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly referred to his political opponents as the “enemy from within,” including during a rally he hosted Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where his opening acts made racist remarks and the Confederate anthem “Dixie” played. Some Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the vice-presidential nominee, drew parallels between that event and a 1939 Nazi rally held at the same venue.

The attacks appeared to strike a nerve with Trump, who said here Monday that his opponents have referred to him as everything from stupid to a mad genius intent on taking over the world. Speakers at his recent events referenced the claims frequently and indignantly - using the labels to galvanize their crowds and stir outrage in the same way that Trump supporters rallied against Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment in 2016.

“They use: ‘He’s Hitler’ and then they say ‘He’s a Nazi.’” Trump said. “I’m not a Nazi, I’m the opposite of a Nazi.”

Trump also falsely stated that Harris and her campaign have deemed “everyone who isn’t voting for her” a Nazi, before he described the vice president as a “fascist” - a strategy Trump routinely uses to turn political rivals’ criticism onto them.

In the closing days of the presidential campaign, Democrats have highlighted statements from Trump’s former advisers who have declared him unfit for office. In a recent book by The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, retired Gen. Mark A. Milley said Trump is a “fascist to the core.” Trump’s former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, recently renewed comparisons between Trump and foreign dictators when he told the Atlantic that Trump expressed admiration for “Hitler’s generals.”

Trump and his campaign have vehemently rejected any comparisons of him to Hitler.

Trump’s rally in Atlanta followed a faith-based event earlier in the day, where he said he believes divine intervention played a role during an assassination attempt at a July campaign event. His speech at Monday night’s rally veered into other topics, from immigration to crowd sizes.

At one point, Trump made a joke about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) being “no longer recognizable” in a hypothetical hydrogen car explosion.

“If something goes wrong and Marjorie Taylor Greene with that beautiful blonde hair is driving down the highway in a hydrogen car and the problem with a hydrogen car, if something goes wrong, it’s like the atom bomb went off, you’re not recognizable,” Trump said. “They’ll say we thought it was Marjorie Taylor Greene riding down the middle of the turnpike, but she’s no longer recognizable. We found some of her.”

In recent weeks, Trump has made false claims about hydrogen cars exploding and disfiguring people. A recent Washington Post Fact Checker described the claim as “nonsense.”

Trump, during his speech, also claimed that Harris “probably hates Americans” and stated that she “stole the nomination” from President Joe Biden. (Harris replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket after he dropped out and endorsed her.) He said former first lady Michelle Obama had been “nasty” to him during a recent speech, prompting boos from Trump’s crowd.

“That was a big mistake that she made,” Trump added. He repeated a false claim that more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of homicide had been let into the United States under Biden and then released.

The rally also had echoes of Trump’s 2016 campaign. As Trump declared “Kamala, you’re fired,” the crowd began to chant: “Lock her up,” cheers that were made about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton at his 2016 rallies.

“I could have locked her up,” Trump said, speaking of Clinton. “But I didn’t want to lock her up.”

He then proceeded to accuse the Biden administration, as he often does without evidence, of weaponizing the justice system to go after him.