Does Beck Think His Comparison Of Progressive Tactics To Nazi Tactics Is Reasonable Discourse?

Written by Adam Shah

Published

Today, Glenn Beck defended his repeated invocation of the Nazis while discussing progressives by saying: “I haven't compared progressives to Nazis, I have compared their tactics and what they do, and shown that it's the same kind of movement.” I'm struggling to understand the distinction, especially when Beck says things like “the progressives here in America believe in national socialism” on more than one occasion.

But even taking Beck at his word that he means to compare progressive tactics to Nazi tactics rather than directly comparing progressives and Nazis, does this mean that Beck really thinks that this is a defensible part of the reasonable discourse in this country given that Nazi tactics include detention and execution of political opponents, use of paramilitary force, banning other political parties, and of course the systematic genocide of Jews.

Below the fold is a sampling of Beck's Nazi comparisons:

  • Beck on NEA conference call: “You should look up the name Goebbels.” On the November 3, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, discussing an NEA conference call in which artists reportedly discussed how “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda,” Beck said that “advocating through art is known as propaganda. Hmm. You should look up the name Goebbels.”
  • Beck compares media portrayal of “tea partygoers” to Nazi portrayal of anti-Nazi “complainers.” On the August 11, 2009, edition of his Fox show, Beck compared the media's portrayal of the “tea partygoers” to a Nazi propaganda poster portraying “complainers” about Nazi policies, saying, “This is a poster of what you see every day now in the news media making the complainers, the tea partygoers, look somehow rotten.”
  • Beck: Holocaust survivor's story of how Nazis drove a wedge between students and parents sounds like U.N. and Gore. On the September 24, 2010, edition of his Fox News show, Beck hosted a Holocaust survivor who said that the Nazis drove a wedge between students and their parents. Beck responded by saying, “I don't know about anybody else ... this, to me, doesn't sound like stuff necessarily that I've heard from Obama. This is stuff that I've heard from the U.N. This is the kind of stuff that we have heard from ... Al Gore.”
  • Beck: “frightening similarities” between Sunstein, Goebbels. On the May 27, 2010, edition of his radio show, Beck claimed there were “frightening similarities” between Obama administration official Cass Sunstein and Goebbels.
  • Beck: Progressives use “democratic elections” to push dictators -- “Hitler, 'democratically elected.' ” On the April 28, 2010, edition of his Fox News show, Beck stated that progressives use “democratic elections” to push dictators, then stated, “You'll hear this when they talk about the 'democratically elected' leader of Iran; the democratic leader Chavez, 'democratically elected,' you know; Castro, 'democratically elected'; Hitler - 'democratically elected.' ”
  • Beck on Obama's “civilian national security force”: “This is what Hitler did with the SS.” Discussing President Obama's call for a “civilian national security force” -- which was a reference to expanding the foreign service, AmeriCorps, and the Peace Corps -- Beck said on the August 27, 2009, edition of his Fox News program:

BECK: I'm finding this -- this is the hardest part to connect to. Because this is -- I mean, look, you know, David [Bellavia, former Army staff sergeant], what you just said is, you said, 'I'm not comparing' -- but you are. I mean, this is what Hitler did with the SS. He had his own people. He had the brownshirts and then the SS. This is what Saddam Hussein -- so -- but you are comparing that. And I -- I mean, I think America would have a really hard time getting their arms around that.

  • Beck told Newsmax: “I fear a Reichstag moment.” On September 29, 2009, conservative news website Newsmax.com reported of its interview with Beck:

But his real worry is that many Washington elitists really don't like our form of government and want to see it abolished.

“I fear a Reichstag moment,” he said, referring to the 1933 burning of Germany's parliament building in Berlin that the Nazis blamed on communists and Hitler used as an excuse to suspend constitutional liberties and consolidate power.

“God forbid, another 9/11. Something that will turn this machine on, and power will be seized and voices will be silenced.”

  • Beck compared auto bailouts to the actions of German companies “in the early days of Adolf Hitler.” While discussing the auto company bailouts on the April 1, 2009, edition of his Fox News program, after stating, “I am not saying that Barack Obama is a fascist,” Beck said, “If I'm not mistaken, in the early days of Adolf Hitler, they were very happy to line up for help there as well. I mean, the companies were like, 'Hey, wait a minute. We can get, you know, we can get out of trouble here. They can help, et cetera, et cetera.' ”
  • Beck said “the Germans” during Hitler's rise “were an awful lot like we are now.” On the June 10, 2009, edition of his Fox News program, Beck stated: “I think the Germans, however, were an awful lot like we are now. We're kind of living in a denial, like, 'No, no, that can't really be happening. No, that really - I' -- you don't want to believe some things, but you have to. You have to actually think about them.”
  • Beck aired photos of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, asks, “Is this where we're headed?” On the April 2, 2009, edition of his Fox News program, while teasing the next day's show, Beck asked, “Is this where we're headed?” while airing photos of Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Vladimir Lenin.
  • Beck compared Gore to Goebbels, says, “The government and its friends are indoctrinating our children for the control of their minds.” On the February 5, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Beck stated, “The government and its friends are indoctrinating our children for the control of their minds, your freedom, and our choice and our future.” Beck then quoted Joesph Goebbels discussing the Hitler Youth and said, “If mom and dad decide the keep the temperature above 72, should our 'Gore youth' report mom and dad?”