Republican House candidate Carl Paladino says the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is “the kind of leader we need today” in an interview last year on a radio station in New York.
During his appearance on The r-House Radio Show last February, host Peter Hunt asked Paladino how to “rouse the population” and get people thinking about change.
“I was thinking the other day about somebody had mentioned on the radio Adolf Hitler and how he aroused the crowds,” Paladino said in a clip posted by Media Matters. “And he would get up there screaming these epithets and these people were just — they were hypnotized by him. That’s, I guess, I guess that’s the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it.”
Paladino announced his run for Congress for New York’s 23rd Congressional District last week after Republican Rep. Chris Jacobs dropped his reelection bid. Jacobs came out in support of gun control after the mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas, and became a target for conservatives.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y) quickly endorsed Paladino. Asked by Huffpost about Paladino’s comments on Thursday, Stefanik claims it was taken out of context.
“I condemn any statement, but don’t take it out of context,” she told the outlet. “That is not accurate reporting.”
Paladino also released a statement on Thursday claiming that he does not support Hitler.
“Any implication that I support Hitler or any of the sick and disgusting actions of the Nazi regime is a new low for the media,” he said. “The context of my statement was in regards to something I heard on the radio from someone else and was repeating, I understand that invoking Hitler in any context is a serious mistake and rightfully upsets people. I strongly condemn the murderous atrocities committed against the Jewish people by Hitler and the Nazis.”
Paladino has a long history of making controversial statements. In 2016 he said he wants to see President Obama die from mad cow disease and then-First Lady Michelle Obama “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
Earlier this week he shared a Facebook post calling recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde false flag operations meant to help Democrats “revoke the 2nd amendment and take away guns.”
