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Trump accused of ‘mimicking’ infamous Nazi rally with Madison Square Garden event

James Carville took a swipe at Trump following the former president’s comments about deploying the National Guard to handle ‘radical left lunatics’ on Election Day

James Liddell
Monday 14 October 2024 18:19 BST
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Related: Trump tells Fox he’d call in troops against US citizens

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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville claimed that Donald Trump’s forthcoming rally at Madison Square Garden is mimicking a pro-Adolf Hitler Nazi event held at the venue more than 80 years ago.

With just 22 days to go until Americans head to polling stations to cast their ballots, the 79-year-old appeared on Sunday’s episode of MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki.

Carville claimed that Trump’s volatile language is reminiscent of rhetoric used during the Third Reich, as he urged the Harris campaign to switch up its attack lines from Trump being “weird” to downright “scary.”

“I did not realize when I said that that he would actually go on television and say, I’m going to use the military to round up my political enemies,” Carville said.

“When I said that, I didn’t know that he was going to schedule a rally at Madison Square Garden to mimic the Nazi rally of February 10, 1939.”

James Carville warned that Trump will host a copycat event of a Nazi rally that took place in Madison Square Garden in 1939
James Carville warned that Trump will host a copycat event of a Nazi rally that took place in Madison Square Garden in 1939 (MSNBC/Inside with Jen Psaki)

Carville was seemingly drawing a comparison between Trump’s recently announced Madison Square Garden rally on October 27, and a 20,000-strong Nazi rally organized by the German American Bund that took place at the venue on February 20 (not 10), 1939.

The pro-Hitler organization erected a huge portrait of the first US president, George Washington, with swastikas on each side, before the group’s secretary declared that “if George Washington were alive today, he would be friends with Adolf Hitler.”

Carville also warned that Trump has been explicit about the “fascist regime” he intends to institute.

“How about looking at American history for one time and see what can happen here. And they are telling you we’re not making this up. This is not we can be fact checked by anybody. They have promised military round up,” he told Psaki.

Donald Trump suggested calling in the National Guard to suppress his political enemies without any actual reason to do so during an interview that aired Sunday
Donald Trump suggested calling in the National Guard to suppress his political enemies without any actual reason to do so during an interview that aired Sunday (The Independent)

“They’ve promised the gates of hell will reign on the enemies. The Supreme Court has greenlighted it. They were asked the question, if a Navy Seal is ordered to assassinate a political enemy — nothing wrong with that. That’s just part of his job. They are telling you they’re doing all of this. Pay attention to them right now, please. They’re telling you.”

During an interview on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures, Trump suggested the deployment of the National Guard or other military personnel to contain “radical left lunatics” on Election Day.

When asked if Trump expected chaos at the ballot box, he replied: “It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”

Carville’s comments come just days after New York state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal called on Madison Square Garden to cancel Trump’s event.

“Allowing Trump to hold an event at MSG is equivalent to the infamous Nazis rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939,” he wrote on X.

“For the good of NYC and its residents, I demand @TheGarden keep our city safe by canceling the Trump rally.”

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