‘Trump Really Believes This Stuff!’ CNN’s Jim Acosta Calls BS on Trump Claim He Never Read Hitler

CNN anchor Jim Acosta called BS on ex-President Donald Trump’s claim he never read Adolf Hitler’s book and said, “It just is the case” that Trump “really believes this stuff!”

Amid outrage over his latest Hitler-echoing rant at a rally in Durham, New Hampshire, Trump has decided to deny he ever read Mein Kampf. At an Iowa rally Tuesday, Trump said:

They’re ruining our country. And it’s true. They’re destroying the blood of our country. That’s what they’re doing. They’re destroying our country. They don’t like it when I said that. And I never read Mein Kampf. They said, “Oh, Hitler said that in a much different way.”

On Wednesday afternoon’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, Acosta noted decades-old reporting that Trump kept Hitler speeches next to his bed, and said he could tell from listening to him that Trump “really believes this stuff”:

ACOSTA: I mean, Nia, when I listen to Donald Trump talking about Hitler and Mein Kampf, I was wondering if I’ve had too much NyQuil the night before. I mean, it’s a little fever dreamy. It’s a little strange. And we shouldn’t, when he says, well, I haven’t read Mein Kampf. I don’t own a copy of Mein Kampf.

I mean, we should note there was a 1990 Vanity Fair article where, you know, it was reported that Ivana Trump, his first wife said, Donald Trump had a book of Hitler. And so, this has come up in biographies about Donald Trump. People talking about Donald Trump, his past and so on, that he has had something of a fascination with Adolf Hitler over the years. Again, so real to talk about, but let’s talk about it.

HENDERSON: This is where we are. And listen, this is where we have been with Donald Trump right, on a fascination with dictators, a fascination with the idea of white America, and sort of the idea that outsiders can sort of spoil white America. That’s essentially what he was saying.

And listen, Donald Trump knows what he’s doing, right? He is going into the Iowa caucuses. You think about the group of voters, they’re white evangelicals. White evangelicals, if you look at sort of the broad spectrum of Republican voters, why evangelicals are among the most anti-immigrant group of voters?

I mean, it’s one of the reasons why they were so attracted to him in 2016, similar rhetoric, build a wall. Mexico is going to pay for it. His initial speech was about Mexicans coming to America and raping and killing Americans. So, this is Donald Trump. I think it has a broad appeal among those folks in Iowa. And that’s certainly what he’s doing it.

LEE: And I still remember that so clearly from — when I covered Donald Trump back in the 2016 campaign and talking to voters across the country. Yes, like there’s sort of extreme — you know, offensive things that Donald Trump will say that, you know, voters are willing to sort of either push off to the side or say, I think I know what he means.

Like, he doesn’t totally mean exactly what he’s saying. But the bigger point, I understand, and I sort of connect with and that is this idea of outsiders coming into the country. It’s exactly what you said. And a lot of voters really were sort of reassured by that.

They liked that there was finally a candidate who was openly talking about this idea of — all these people from the outside coming in and taking away our jobs. There’s a big population, a big segment of the population that wants to hear that message. And that obviously, is what Donald Trump is once again harnessed.

ACOSTA: Yeah. But you know, Dave, after he’s been aware of the fact that he is echoing Adolf Hitler, he again repeats these comments. He says, they’re ruining our country. It’s true. They’re destroying the blood of our country. That’s what they’re doing. They’re destroying our country. I mean, you know, people can say, oh, this is just Donald Trump. He’s just being Donald Trump. It sounds as though, and I mean, it just is the case. This is what he believes this stuff.

Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.

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