Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D., N.Y.) claim the Trump administration was running “concentration camps” on the southern border was defended by several historians and members of the press on Twitter.
Ocasio-Cortez told viewers during an Instagram Live session on Monday that Trump was running an “authoritarian and fascist presidency” and said the detention system for illegal immigrants was akin to concentration camps, adding “never again,” a clear Holocaust reference.
Coming to Ocasio-Cortez’s aid were several reporters and historians, including Washington Post opinion writer Radley Balko calling her usage of the term “accurate” and Princeton professor Kevin Kruse saying that concentration camps like Dachau set the stage for later death camps like Auschwitz.
Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel suggested Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t making a Holocaust comaprison, writing, “Not going any deeper into Concentration Camp Twitter today, but the term originated to describe British tactics in the Boer War, and was later applied to Nazi tactics. Problem with saying “internment camp” instead is that you remind people that Americans had them before.” – READ MORE