Glenn Beck absurdly claims he hasn't suggested progressives are mimicking Nazis

Written by Ben Dimiero

Published

I'm starting to wonder if Glenn Beck has no recall for the things he says on his radio and TV shows. It would explain segments like this on his radio show today, in which he claims that he has not said that the US is “mimicking” Nazi Germany:

As he indicated in the above clip, a mere hour after comparing America to Nazi-era Germany, Beck felt it necessary to clear up any confusion about his comparisons of American progressives to Nazis in Germany, saying that “anyone who thinks that they are mimicking Nazi Germany or whatever -- or they think that that's what I'm saying -- that's not what I'm saying at all.”

Gee, Glenn, I wonder how people could have gotten that impression.

Beck frequently compares administration officials and progressives to Nazis, often suggesting that they are mimicking the tactics of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Last week, Beck suggested that there are “frightening similarities” between Obama administration official Cass Sunstein and Goebbels.

In February, Beck compared videos produced by Obama campaign manager David Plouffe to Goebbels propaganda. He called it “yet another page taken out of the playbook.” Last November, discussing an NEA conference call, Beck said that “advocating through art is propaganda. Hmm. You should look up the name Goebbels.”

Beck has also compared Al Gore to Joseph Goebbels. Twice.

Glenn Beck's Nazi obsession - which Lewis Black aptly dubbed his “Nazi Tourette's” -- extends far beyond comparisons of progressives to Goebbels. Here are just a handful of examples:

  • Last week, Beck claimed that putting the common good first “leads to death camps.”
  • Appearing on The O'Reilly Factor early last year, Beck indicated that we are “truly stepping beyond socialism and starting to look at fascism.” He proceeded to compare what was supposedly happening in our country to “what happened in Nazi Germany.”
  • While discussing a trip he took to the Holocaust museum, Beck proclaimed that “the Germans” during Hitler's rise “were an awful lot like we are now.”
  • Beck has invoked Nazis to attack the idea of worker ID cards, saying “it was one of the first things that Hitler did.” Among other progressive policies, Beck has linked health care reform to Nazis, suggesting reform would lead to the killing of the elderly and newborns.
  • Beck ran a whole “documentary” - which one historian subsequently labeled a “complete lie” - trying to link progressives to the historical atrocities of Adolf Hitler (among others.)
  • Discussing Obama's call for a “civilian national security force,” Beck said that “this is what Hitler did with the SS.”
  • Beck has compared boycotts of his shows to the Holocaust, and likened the Obama administration's treatment of Fox News to Nazi persecution of Jews.

But, according to Glenn Beck on his radio show today, “anyone who thinks that they are mimicking Nazi Germany or whatever -- or they think that that's what I'm saying -- that's not what I'm saying at all.”

When viewed in light of Beck's blatant lie last night that his attack on Malia Obama was the first time he dragged the first family “into the debate,” a pattern is emerging: Beck either has serious memory issues, he is staggeringly dishonest, or he thinks that nobody will call him out on his lies.