Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews told Jim Acosta on “The Jim Acosta Show” podcast Friday that President Donald Trump is doing the same thing Hitler did “during the Holocaust” by deporting alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
During their discussion, Matthews told Acosta he had “a nasty one” for him after Acosta mentioned that he had to ask him “some newsy questions” before the two spent the rest of the show “reminiscing.”
“What did Hitler do in the Holocaust? He took people from Germany to other countries,” Matthews said, to which Acosta responded, “Yeah.”
OREGON LAWMAKER LATEST DEMOCRAT TO VISIT EL SALVADOR FOR DEPORTED ILLEGAL MIGRANT ABREGO GARCIA
The former MSNBC host continued: “Where there was no German law. There was not even a pretense of German law, they took them to Poland or Hungary, and they kill them.”
Acosta responded by asking Matthews if there was a parallel between what he had just explained about the Nazis and the Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia.
“And so when you see what’s happening right now with this El Salvadoran Gulag, I mean, this CECOT Gulag, he’s basically taking a page out of that playbook, you think?” Acosta asked.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Matthews replied, “Well it gets them out of the country,” before elaborating on what he would have asked Trump and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during their meeting on Monday if he was present.
Later on in their discussion, Acosta accused the Trump administration of “inflicting cruelty” on Abrego Garcia to make an example out of him.
“There’s a component here that is deeply disturbing because it seems to be all about inflicting cruelty. It’s all about making an example out of this person and saying, ‘We’re going to be cruel to this guy, and so you better not come here. We’re going be cruel to you too,'” Acosta claimed. “Is that what you see in this?”
Matthews agreed with Acosta and alleged that the Trump administration is also using “cruelty” as a negotiation tactic with the nation’s allies.
“Big time, we do that to Canada,” Matthews alleged. “‘They’re all coming to me. They have to come to me and, quote, kiss my a–.’ I mean, that’s what he says. Why does he keep saying that? Why does he use that phrase? Because he wants to humiliate people. This is not, it is schoolyard stuff. It is so close to schoolyard.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.