In a recent news conference, White House Press Secretary,
Sean Spicer stated that even ‘Hitler didn’t sink to use chemical weapons.’
The
remark was made against the Syrian government who is being held responsible for
the recent chemical attack on April 4, on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun
in Syria which killed at least 70 people and injured hundreds, especially kids
who required immediate medical attention. This event led to the April 7 bombing
of the Shayrat air base.
Spicer was quoted saying, “You had someone who is despicable
as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.” This remark raised a
lot of eyebrows in the room where many journalists were present which made
Spicer try and backtrack his statement once he was pressed on his words.
He tried to explain his statement more by saying, “He was
not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing. He
brought them into the Holocaust centers, I understand that. But (not) in the
way that Bashar al-Assad used them where he went into towns, dropped them down,
into the middle of towns.”
The Nazi comparisons to the current government present in
the White House by the public on the internet has been rampant ever since Trump
was instated into the office in January of this year. However, this was the
first time when a comparison was done from a White House official and that too
in a context that is plain incorrect.
Hitler, as most of the people know, used a high amount of
toxic chemical gas in concentration camps where reportedly thousands of
prisoners were killed in one day. This also made a lot of people question, what
is the definition of chemical weapons in the eyes of the White House? Is it
only limited to the chemical weapons thrown from flights or missiles?
No matter what the definition of the White House might be,
this was a highly insensitive remark which was made without consideration and
proper research.
