Sean Spicer just can’t catch a break. President Donald Trump’s put-upon press secretary has been a subject of merciless parody thanks to Melissa McCarthy’s impression on Saturday Night Live and his own inability to remember foreign leaders’ names.
But today, he really put his foot in his mouth.
At this afternoon’s White House press briefing, Spicer claimed that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad" class="company-link">Bashar al-Assad was worse than Adolf Hitler, because Hitler didn’t “sink to the level of using chemical weapons on his own people.” He also referred to concentration camps as “Holocaust centers.”
As any student of history knows, millions of Jews were killed in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
Notable tweeters, including Chelsea Clinton, took Spicer to task for his remarks, especially since they came during the Jewish holiday of Passover. Others made light of the fact that Spicer played the White House Easter Bunny during the Bush administration, and compared Spicer’s flub to the recent Pepsi and United Airlines controversies:
I hope @PressSec takes time to visit @HolocaustMuseum. It's a few blocks away. https://t.co/24fNoMUyS8
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/851861071526678528
https://twitter.com/wilw/status/851863554290458624
It really only makes sense that we're going to spend the afternoon playing a fun round of "How Bad Was Hitler?" https://t.co/Og2eMAkISp
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/851858408835821568
Melissa McCarthy watching cable news just now:
"Oh, shit."
Calls agents.
"Book me a flight to New York. Yes, today. And not United."— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) April 11, 2017
Sean Spicer just said Assad is worse than Hitler because Hitler "didn't use chemical weapons."
Also, Happy Passover from the White House.
— jordan (@JordanUhl) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/cafedotcom/status/851865276190605312
Hitler: Step into my Holocaust centers.
— L O L G O P (@LOLGOP) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/Spyhuntress/status/851870933669294080
Pepsi: Well, we just did the stupidest thing anyone will do this year.
United: Wait. Hold my beer
Sean Spicer: Amateurs. Watch this
— Steven Spohn (Spawn) (@stevenspohn) April 11, 2017
Sean Spicer is basically if the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme had lyrics
— Matt Oswalt (@MattOswaltVA) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/ChloeAngyal/status/851870191604707328
yeah, good old holocaust centers. checking in was easy, the hard part was getting out.
— danielle sandler (@daniellesandler) April 11, 2017
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has been accused of anti-Semitism—Trump released a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement that didn’t mention Jewish people at all, and Jewish journalists have been relentlessly trolled on Twitter since Trump’s campaign began.
