Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews compared President Donald Trump’s forced removal of a Maryland dad to Adolf Hitler’s treatment of minorities and political opponents under the Third Reich.
“What did Hitler do in the Holocaust? He took people from Germany to other countries where there was no German law,” Matthews said during a Friday appearance on former CNN anchor Jim Acosta’s podcast, The Jim Acosta Show.
Matthews was referring to the mounting scandal surrounding the Trump administration’s forced removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old father who lives in Maryland, to El Salvador in March. The administration admitted that it had deported the man, who is currently being held in El Salvador’s CERCOT megaprison, because of an “administrative error” but has defied the Supreme Court’s orders to “facilitate” his return.
“There was not even a pretense of German law,” Matthews went on before Acosta interrupted him, comparing the CECOT megaprison to the notorious “gulag” work camps Stalin used during the Soviet era to punish dissidents.
Despite its admission that Abrego Garcia was by mistake, the Trump administration has continued to claim he is a member of the notorious MS-13 street gang—a claim Abrego Garcia’s wife and lawyers have steadfastly denied. Trump’s staff insists that El Salvadoran authorities have shown little willingness to give up custody of the Maryland resident, which means their hands are tied.
Matthews said that if he were still working at MSNBC, he would ask both the American and El Salvadoran presidents about returning Abrego Garcia to his family in Maryland, then compare their responses to see if there have, in fact, been any discussions on the matter at all.
Acosta reflected that the goal of the entire affair appears to be inflicting as much cruelty as possible on Abrego Garcia to deter others from considering emigrating to the United States.
“It’s because he wants to humiliate people,” Matthews agreed. “It’s schoolyard stuff, it’s so close to schoolyard stuff.”
