California congressman becomes latest Republican to invoke Nazis to defend Trump, bash Biden

Rep. Mike Garcia, a Republican who faces one of the most competitive House races in the country, likened the Biden administration to the Nazi regime during an interview on a conservative podcast last week. Referencing the recent FBI search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida residence of former President Trump, Garcia accused the Biden administration and what he called the “deep state” of “weaponizing federal agencies” for political purposes. When asked about Garcia’s remarks, a campaign spokesman sent a statement: “Mike Garcia has spent a career fighting against tyranny and oppression serving in the military, and no one in Congress values our strategic partnership with Israel more or fights for our Jewish community harder than he does.” Smith, in an interview with The Times, denounced Garcia’s comments as a “horrific trivialization of the Holocaust” and “a very deliberate attack on the credibility of our governing and law enforcement institutions.” Facing a more Democratic-leaning electorate, Garcia has tried to pull off a political balancing act. The hard work comes in unifying.” Carter then raised concerns that federal bureaucracies could target political enemies, referencing “FBI raids” in an allusion to the Aug. 8 search of Trump’s estate. “This points to a consistent pattern with Rep. Garcia where he publicly issues one set of performative statements,” she said, “but when he thinks it’s private and in front of a confined, more extreme audience, he has a different story to tell.” Garcia’s comparison to the Third Reich echoes comments by Trump’s hardline supporters.