Remember when Trump compared the Biden administration to the Gestapo?

In early May 2024, several news outlets reported Donald Trump allegedly compared the Biden administration to the Gestapo—which was the secret police of Nazi Germany—during a luncheon with Republican supporters. 

Trump really did take his political rhetoric to a new and disturbing height during a Republican National Committee retreat for donors in Florida that saw him deliver a stormy seventy-five-minute speech in which he linked the Biden administration with the Nazis. 

The New York Times was the first media outlet to report on the remarks the former president shared with donors during a private event at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida. 

The news outlet published a quote of the remarks Trump made based on recorded audio that it had obtained from the donor event. “These people are running a Gestapo administration,” Trump told donors. 

“And it’s the only thing they have,” Trump continued. “And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion, and it’s actually killing them. But it doesn’t bother me,” the former president added. 

It’s important to note that the Gestapo was the infamous political police force of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in German according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia. 

The Gestapo’s job was to protect Nazi Germany’s political regime, which is what made Trump's comment such a ridiculous comparison. But it wasn't the only weird thing the former president did during the event. 

Prior to comparing the Biden administration to the Gestapo, Trump explained to donors that the indictments against him were being orchestrated by Biden’s administration but there is little evidence to prove that point. 

The White House responded to the news of Trump’s comments quickly at the time and remarked in a statement the rhetoric the former president had used was appalling. It also added that Biden was bringing Americans together unlikely any other time before and reducing crime in the country.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates accused Trump of “echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascists” and reminded the public that he had previously launched with “Neo Nazis” according to Reuters 

"President Biden is bringing the American people together around our shared democratic values and the rule of law - an approach that has delivered the biggest violent crime reduction in 50 years," Bates continued.

The Hill reported that the Republican National Committee donor retreat included several prominent GOP lawmakers including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who would later comment on Trump’s Nazi comparison remarks. 

“This was a short comment deep into the thing that wasn’t really central to what he was talking about,” Governor Burgum said of Trump's comments comparing the Biden administration to the Gestapo. “A majority of Americans feel like the trial that he’s in right now is politically motivated.”

There was a lot of anger over Trump’s comments at the time. For example, Amy Spitalnick, The Jewish Council for Public Affairs’ Chief Executive of the Public Policy Group, denounced the former president for his remarks.

“It's always wrong, offensive, and despicable to make comparisons like this — even more so when taken alongside the former president's long history of normalizing antisemitism," Spitalnick said. 

Trump allegedly also ranted about how Democrats use welfare to cheat in the elections during his speech at the Republican donor event, saying: “When you are Democrat, you start off essentially at 40 percent because you have civil service, you have the unions and you have welfare.”

“And don’t underestimate welfare. They get welfare to vote, and then they cheat on top of that — they cheat,” Trump added. The former president also took some time to attack the appearance of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith during his remarks at the event.

“He’s unattractive both inside and out,” Mr. Trump said. “This is one unattractive dude,” Trump allegedly said before using two expletives to describe the man looking into the former president’s misconduct according to the New York Times. 

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.