Trump: It's 'ridiculous' to compare my loyalty pledge to the Nazi salute ... but is it rudiculous to ask?

Photo: Getty Images
Donald Trump says comparisons of the loyalty pledge he administers and the Nazi Germany, Heil Hitler salute are 'ridiculous' and 'crazy.' He's seen here asking for their vote yesterday in North Carolina

  'but I’ll certainly look into it because I don’t want to offend anybody' -Trump

GOP candidate was first observed asking his supporters to swear by his candidacy at an Orlando, Florida, rally last Saturday
Abe Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, said: 'It is a fascist gesture' and is 'offensive, obnoxious and disgusting'
Trump told the Today show, 'That’s a big, big stretch' The oath, he said has been 'well-received' by his audiences; 'We’re having a good time. Honestly, until this phone call, I didn’t know it was a problem'

My Take ...
For 70 year old Trump, who ought to be familiar, if he's not, with the circumstances of the rise of facism in Europe in the 30's and 40's  to feign ignorance as to the likely consequences of his nativist vitirol is disingenous, disgusting and disturbing. 

This goes beyond the desire to win the GOP ticket, the potential for the skewering of the global outlook on young impressionable minds is quite grave as consequences indeed will prove to be grim. 

'The Donald, you are a father, grand father, uncle and self proclaimed leader and role model. Your heritage should have you acutely aware of all the ugliness of xenophobia, the mass of scarred victims left in it's wake, that the world can not accomodate a similar global debacle, no matter where it is initiated. This self serving behaviour, does America no good.

You have a spell-bound audience, a loud bully pulpit, you can still win without the divisive histronics and parochial messaging, lose it and you will be surprised at the percentage of the American electorate ready to embrace change'

 Continue with the story .....

According to Trump, the oath, he said has been 'well-received' by his audiences.

'Sometimes we’ll do it for fun, and they’ll start screaming at me, "Do the swearing! Do the swearing!" I mean, they’re having such a great time,' Trump said this morning in a phone-in to the Today show. 'We’re having a good time. Honestly, until this phone call, I didn’t know it was a problem.'

But now that it's come to his attention that not everyone feels that way about it, Trump said, 'I’ll certainly look into it because I don’t want to offend anybody.'

Photo: Rawstory

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump speaking in Alabama

Trump was first observed asking his supporters to swear by his candidacy at an Orlando, Florida, rally last Saturday. 

'Raise your right hand: ‘I do solemnly swear that I - no matter how I feel, no matter what the conditions, if there’s hurricanes or whatever - will vote, on or before the 12th for Donald J Trump for president,' he said.

And he said: 'Don't forget you all raised your hand, you swore.'

'Bad things happen if you don't live up to what you just did.'

Observers complained over the weekend that the oath was reminiscent of the greeting adopted by Nazis to prove their loyalty the the fuhrer during WWII. At the same time, comedian Louis C.K, made a direct comparison of Trump to Hitler.

Yesterday, Abe Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League called Trump out in the Times of Israel.

'It is a fascist gesture,' he said of the pledge.

Foxman called Trump's behavior 'outrageous' and said he knows exactly what he's doing.

'He is smart enough — he always tells us how smart he is — to know the images that this evokes,' the lawyer said. 'Instead of asking his audience to pledge allegiance to the United States of America, which in itself would be a little bizarre, he’s asking them to swear allegiance to him.'

Foxman was born in Poland in 1940. His parents left him with a Catholic nanny when the Germans forced them into a ghetto.

'As a Jew who survived the Holocaust, to see an audience of thousands of people raising their hands in what looks like the"‘Heil Hitler" salute is about as offensive, obnoxious and disgusting as anything I thought I would ever witness in the United States of America,' he said yesterday.

Photo: Washpo/Getty Images

'Sometimes we’ll do it for fun, and they’ll start screaming at me, "Do the swearing! Do the swearing!" I mean, they’re having such a great time,' Trump said this morning. Above he's seen administering the oath for the first time in Orlando, on Saturday

Photo: Getty Images

Observers complained over the weekend that the oath was reminiscent of the greeting adopted by Nazis to prove their loyalty the the fuhrer during WWII. The former head of the Anti-Defamation League said it was 'fascist.' Trump said today that comment was too far

Confronted with Foxman's assessment, Trump told Today co-host Matt Lauer this morning, 'That’s a big, big stretch.'

But he said, 'If it's offensive, if there's anything wrong with it, I wouldn't do it.'. 

'Our country is in trouble, big trouble,' Trump said, but in spite of that, he said he and his supporters 'are having a great time. And part of this is that, and you know that this would be brought up this morning, I’m very surprised to hear it.' 

He likewise said on Morning Joe, 'They’re raising their hand in the form of a vote, not in the form of a salute.'

'That’s crazy. I can’t believe that’s even being posed,' he said of criticisms. 

Courtesy: mail