Texas Jewish Group condemns campaign ad likening Trump to Hitler

The Dallas-area organizations said bringing up the Nazi leader for anything other than education or in reference to the Holocaust was “highly inappropriate and offensive.”

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while addressing a joint news conference with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, US, April 30, 2018. (photo credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while addressing a joint news conference with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, US, April 30, 2018.
(photo credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
Several Jewish groups on Friday scolded Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price for sending a political mail ad equating President Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler.
The Dallas-area organizations said bringing up the Nazi leader for anything other than education or in reference to the Holocaust was “highly inappropriate and offensive.”
This reference diminishes the inexpressible horror perpetrated and orchestrated by Adolf Hitler with the systematic murder of six million Jews and millions of other victims,” reads the statement. “To use his name and portrayal as a comparison in a political advertisement demeans the memory and humanity of those who perished and cheapens our political process.”
The statement was sent on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas and its Jewish Community Relations Council, the Texoma office of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Dallas Holocaust Museum and the Southern Methodist University Human Rights Program.
The outspoken Price said Friday that he stood by the ad, which was paid for by his campaign.
Price, who is not up for re-election this year, sent the mail ad to his constituents this week. The ad juxtaposed images of Trump and Hitler and compared the two point by point.  For instance, it stated both men had “used racism to rise to power" and urged people to vote for Democratic candidates in the Nov. 6 election.
Earlier this week, Price, who has been in office since 1985, said he had heard positive feedback from his constituents.
The Trump campaign blasted the ad and used it to attack Democrats, saying it reflected “a cynical new reality” in the party. Missy Shorey, chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, said the ad made her sick and called on Price to apologize.
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