White House press secretary Sean Spicer came under fire today when, in an effort to shame Russia’s alliance with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his use of chemical weapons, said Adolf Hitler “didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons” during World War II.
“You had someone who was despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” Spicer said. “So you have to, if you are Russia, ask yourself is this a country and a regime that you want to align yourself with.”
Hitler oversaw a network of extermination camps where gas chambers were used to kill millions of Jews and others deemed to be harmful to the German state. Spicer also referred to death camps as “the Holocaust center.”
Facing intense backlash, he later sought to clarify his remarks in three separate statements.
The outrage on social media was swift (see below), with reporters and public figures blasting Spicer’s comments — and saying they were particularly offensive coming during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
