Bernie Sanders compares Trump's 'racist ideology' to Holocaust

“We must never forget what happened under the racist ideology of the Nazis, which led to the deaths of millions and millions of people, including family members of mine,” Sanders said.

By JTA
Updated: DECEMBER 17, 2015 10:09
Donald Trump urges ban on Muslims entering US
Bernie Sanders referenced the Holocaust and condemned Republican candidate Donald Trump’s “anti-Muslim rhetoric and hatred” in a visit to a Washington mosque.
Sanders, the Democratic presidential hopeful and Vermont senator, participated in a roundtable discussion with Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders at the Masjid Muhammmed mosque on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported.
Sanders specifically criticized Trump’s recent call to bar Muslims from entering the United States.
“We must never forget what happened under the racist ideology of the Nazis, which led to the deaths of millions and millions of people, including family members of mine,” Sanders said at the northwest Washington mosque, which calls itself “the nation’s mosque.”
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of two Muslims in Congress, has endorsed Sanders and appeared with him at the mosque on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a protester at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Las Vegas shouted a Nazi-era salute at the Republican presidential candidate.
A protester identified by NBC News as a large middle-aged man shouted “Sieg Heil” at the rally Monday evening as another protester was dragged away by security services, NBC reported. About 10 members of a group that supports the Black Lives Matter movement led the protest.
The Trump rally was held the day before the Republican presidential candidates debate in the Nevada city. Trump is leading in the polls.
BuzzFeed described the “fevered, frenzied” mood of the protests at the rally as “mayhem” and said that Trump “gleefully narrated the madness from his podium like a tabloid talk show host presiding over an on-camera brawl between guests.”
In November, Trump controversially confirmed his support for a database to track American Muslims, saying that he would move to require Muslims to register with the government if he were elected.
“I would certainly implement that. Absolutely,” Trump told NBC News in between campaign stops in Iowa.
“There should be a lot of systems beyond databases,” he added. “We should have a lot of systems.”
Asked how his system would differ from what the Nazis did to the Jews, Trump said repeatedly: “You tell me.”