Joe Biden Compared to Adolf Hitler by Trump Loyalists

Joe Biden has faced criticism and has been compared to Adolf Hitler following a speech he made on Thursday.

During his speech, made at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Biden attacked former President Donald Trump and his Make American Great Again (MAGA) supporters.

Biden said that both posed an ongoing threat to America and the future of the country.

Despite the attack on the former president, Biden clarified that he did not feel Republicans in general or the majority of Republicans posed a threat.

"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," he said.

"I want to be very clear, very clear upfront. Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.

"I know because I've been able to work with these mainstream Republicans. But there's no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country."

Trump supporters took to social media to draw comparisons between Biden and Hitler.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a viral video of Biden that had been doctored to include swastikas. Biden's face had also been changed to look like Hitler, complete with mustache.

A couple of seconds from a speech by the Nazi dictator was also played over Biden's words.

"What we all saw tonight from Biden," Greene said as she shared the video.

"I guess when President Butterbeans is frail, weak and dementia ridden, the Hitler imagery was their attempt to make him look 'tough' while he declares war on half of America as enemies of the state. Or it's real."

"President declares half the country a threat to democracy," conservative radio host Erick Erickson tweeted.

"He's flanked by Marines with mid-1930's German red lighting behind him. Talking heads on CNN and MSNBC love it. Fascism is relative."

"The 'Trump is literally Hitler!' crowd really enjoyed Biden's speech tonight," Conservative Washington Times columnist Tim Young mockingly tweeted.

Some social media users said Biden's aesthetic during the speech was playing into the "Dark Brandon" meme.

The meme shot to popularity earlier this year and has proved a hit among conservatives, often showing a malevolent-looking Biden, occasionally with lasers for eyes. Some commentators have suggested the president could be playing into this meme now.

"Tonight was a classic example of how different things can look in person versus on TV," BBC journalist Anthony Zurcher tweeted.

"In person: Joe Biden at the patriotic cradle of America. On TV: Dark Brandon on his throne of human skulls."

"His staff probably thought the dark Brandon folks would eat it up," editor in chief for the Ricochet podcast, Jon Gabriel, wrote on Twitter.

"I am very confused as to who could have possibly thought this was going to be a great look," radio show host Joe Cunningham tweeted.

"Someone on staff said 'Let's manifest Dark Brandon. Make him look serious and forceful."

Nazi symbolism came to be exemplified by the party's Nuremberg rallies held in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1938, for example, Hitler addressed thousands of party supporters in the specially built site festooned with swastikas. He described Jews in Germany as "parasites" and criticized democracies as "dishonest." A year later the Nazis invaded Poland to start the Second World War, intensifying the oppression of minority groups in Germany and occupied countries that culminated in the Holocaust.

Rabbi Jeremy Markiz tweeted: "Any comparison to Biden as Hitler or MAGA Republicans as Jews is deeply offensive."

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.

Update 09/02/2022, 10:26 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional historical information and comment.