MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace claimed on Monday that no Democrat has compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler — despite years of documented examples showing otherwise.
During her podcast, Wallace spoke with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker about immigration enforcement under Trump. Pritzker, who is Jewish, said Holocaust survivors are raising alarms about authoritarian behavior they see repeating itself. Wallace said those concerns are “not a partisan analysis” and praised Pritzker for outlining historical “parallels” to Nazi-era tactics.
She also recalled that Vice President JD Vance once questioned whether Trump could be “America’s Hitler,” using that to argue criticism of Trump’s ideology has come from his own allies.
“You put sort of the intellectual architecture behind the parallels that involve all of us,” Wallace said, pointing to reports of people being asked for documentation in public places. She suggested that what begins with immigration enforcement could expand to wider civil liberties.
Pritzker tried to distinguish his position from explicit Nazi comparisons. “I’m not suggesting, I haven’t suggested Donald Trump is Hitler,” he said.
“I don’t think any Democrat has,” Wallace replied. “And I actually think it’s a smear that they project back onto critics.”
But public statements tell a different story.
In 2018, Wallace responded to Trump embracing the word “nationalist” by saying, “I watch enough History Channel to know that they cheered at Hitler, too.”
In 2023, Hillary Clinton said on “The View,” “Hitler was duly elected,” and warned that Trump was signaling authoritarian plans.
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett referred to Trump as “Temu Hitler,” mocking him as a cheap imitation of the dictator.
Rep. James Clyburn has repeatedly compared Trump to Hitler over the years, including during his first term, saying the political climate reminded him of Germany in the 1930s.
While Wallace denied that Democrats make those comparisons, clips from her own broadcasts, along with remarks from top party figures, show the narrative has been a recurring talking point.