Don Lemon Calls Out Newly-Elected GOP Rep. Who Cited Nazi Leader in Speech: ‘If You’re Apologizing for Saying Hitler Was Right, in Your First Week…’
CNN’s Don Lemon railed against newly-elected Republican Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller, for positively invoking Hitler in a speech at the pro-Trump rally on Wednesday, when she said the Nazi leader “was right on one thing, the children are our future.”
During his Friday night show, Lemon segued from a MAGA mob stalking and chanting “Traitor!” at Sen. Lindsey Graham at Washington’s airport to Miller’s comments at Wednesday’s pro-Trump rally on The Mall.
In her defense of Trump, Miller, who was just sworn in to Congress last weekend, read from prepared remarks and, at one point, cited the Nazi leader to make an incredibly trite, and clichéd point that numerous other cultural figures have made over the years, including Whitney Houston.
“We should be unashamed to represent our values. The family is foundational to the stability of our country,” Miller said. “Each generation has the responsible to teach the next generation. If we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing, whoever has the youth, has the future.”
Here’s the full clip. Incoming Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller didn’t slip or improvise when she quoted Hitler and praised how the murderous Nazi built his political movement by indoctrinating youth. She was reading from prepared remarks. pic.twitter.com/xWPi2u8wB3
— Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) January 6, 2021
Miller, tried to clarify her Hitler reference on her Twitter account hours later, vaguely claiming that her point was analogize to “evil dictators” to current “left-wing radicals” in the country.
Congresswoman Miller’s statement was a denunciation of evil dictators’ efforts to re-educate young people and similar efforts by left-wing radicals in our country today.
— Congresswoman Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) January 6, 2021
That disingenuous claim didn’t quell the backlash, however, as an online petition calling for her resignation garner more than 10,000 names and four members of Illinois’ Democratic Congressional caucus, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, subsequently called on Miller to resign.
Miller ultimately apologized in a statement on Friday, saying “I sincerely apologize for any harm my words caused and regret using a reference to one of the most evil dictators in history to illustrate the dangers that outside influencers can have on our youth.”
She then hit back at critics that she claimed were unfairly “trying to intentionally twist my words to mean something antithetical to my beliefs” before touting her support for Israel and the Jewish community.
Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) issues a statement on her remarks at the recent Moms for America event in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/3349AZwbN7
— Congresswoman Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) January 8, 2021
All of that prologue was building in Lemon as lashed out at the Congresswoman’s horrific choice of historical reference.
“You can never control a mob,” Lemon said. “Now, they are not all the people who carried out torches in Charlottesville, but we saw plenty of Confederate flags waving in the crowd” on Wednesday during the assault on the Capitol.
“And we heard Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller quoting Hitler. She apologized for referencing Hitler today, said he is an ‘evil dictator,'” an angry and exasperated Lemon added. “Listen, when you have been on the job less than a week and you find yourself apologizing for saying ‘Hitler was right’ to an insurrectionist mob of people, some carrying Confederate flags and wearing Holocaust denial shirts, that storms the Capitol and kills people…you might be doing it wrong.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
