Joe Biden Compares Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley to Nazi Propagandist Joseph Goebbels

President-elect Joe Biden compared Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels on Friday, saying they shared responsibility with President Donald Trump for the riot on Capitol Hill.

Biden declined to say that Cruz and Howley should resign, but said they should be defeated at their next elections.

“They’re part of the ‘big lie,’” Biden said, saying that they had spread false information about the election being stolen.They’re part of the big lie, the big lie. I was being reminded by a friend of mine, and maybe you were with me, I can’t recall, when we told that, you know, Goebbels and the great lie, you keep repeating the law, repeating the lie. Well, there was a print that when Dresden [in Germany] was bombed, firebombed [in WOrld War II], there were 250 people that were killed — was it 2,500 people that were killed? And Goebbels said no, 25,000 — or 250,000 were killed. And our papers printed that. Our papers printed it. It’s big lie [sic]. People will notice — it’s one thing for one man, or one woman, to repeat the lie over and over and over again. By the way, Trump said [sic] that before he ran. If you say it enough, I’m going to convince you, I’ll say it enough, “The press is bad, the press is bad, the press is bad, the press is bad.” If he’s the only one saying it, that’s one thing. But the acolytes that follow him, like Cruz and others, they are as responsible as he is. And so, it’s not about whether or not they get impeached. It’s about whether or not they help — can continue to hold power because of the disgust the American people have for their actions. There are decent people out there who actually believe these lies. Because they’ve heard it again and again.

It is not clear what Trump quote Biden was referring to, but in fact, 25,000 people were killed in the firebombing of Dresden. The National World War II Museum notes that 25,000 is not even the highest estimate.

A widely accepted estimate is 35,000 killed during the 37 hours of terror. Rival claims go far higher. The German government, however, proposes 25,000 as a defensible guess. Since so many victims were immolated after the attacks, we will likely never know the precise number.

While Goebbels is associated with the “big lie” idea, he is often misquoted. Goebbels himself accused the British of using the “big lie” as a propaganda technique.

More