Rep. Jim Clyburn Goes There Criticizing Trump For Refusing to Concede: ‘That’s What Hitler Did in Germany’

House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn was blunt in his criticism of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election, directly comparing his tactics to those deployed by the literal Nazis in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany.

Clyburn made the comments in a Tuesday night appearance on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time, after he responded to host Chris Cuomo’s question about how probable it was that the Trump campaign would attempt to get Republican legislatures in states that Joe Biden won to replace Biden electors with Trump electors.

“I know you guys are standing by and watching and hoping for the best,” said Cuomo, “but hopefully you’re preparing for the worst as well. What if they go to the state legislatures and say, ‘forget about the vote. We don’t trust it, right? Pick your own electors.’ State legislatures can do that in a bunch of the states.”

“Yes, they can do that,” Clyburn acknowledged. “But I don’t think they can do that to the tune of 270. There is no question about that.”

Clyburn continued, noting that while he did not believe this was likely to happen, he still had concerns.

“It may happen,” said Clyburn, “and then I’ve been telling people for a long time now, I’m beginning to see what happened in Germany back in the 1930s. I never thought that could happen in this country. How do you elect a person president, then all of a sudden give him the authority to be dictator? That’s what we are teetering on here.”

“That’s what Hitler did in Germany,” he continued, noting that after the Hitler became chancellor, he “successfully discredited the news media,” and was able to then take over the churches and the rest of the country.

“I cannot see that happening here. It may happen, but if it did that means the American people are much more — less, I should say — intelligent than I think they are.”

Cuomo shook his head, commenting on the “heavy days.”

“You know, I joke just so I keep from crying,” Cuomo told Clyburn. “These are hard days, and I hope your party is ready to fight for the democracy and find ways to make these Republicans come to their senses. I know they’re afraid of the base but they have to value something more than that at some point.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.