NY Congressional Candidate says Hitler leadership example

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An upstate congressional candidate with a long history of controversial remarks is once again in hot water after saying that Adolph Hitler is “the kind of leader we need today.”

In an audio clip unveiled Thursday by Media Matters for America, a left-leaning watchdog group, Republican Carl Paladino is heard invoking the Nazi leader and commending “how he aroused the crowds.”

“(H)e would get up there screaming these epithets and these people were just — they were hypnotized by him,” Paladino said during a February 2021 appearance on the The r-House Radio Show, which airs on WBEN in Buffalo. “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,” he added.

He has already garnered endorsements from the likes of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the third-ranking Republican in the House, as he is slated to face off against state GOP chairman Nick Langworthy in the August primary.

Paladino is no stranger to controversy, having made blatantly racist remarks in the past about former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as well as Asian Americans.

Paladino won the GOP gubernatorial primary in 2010 despite being accused of forwarding racist and offensive emails to colleagues in the construction industry.

He lost the general election to former governor Andrew Cuomo by more than 30 points and went on to serve on the school board of Buffalo Public Schools before being booted in 2017.

Earlier this week, Media Matters revealed that he shared a post on Facebook and emailed supporters claiming that recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas were false flag operations meant to help Democrats “revoke the 2nd amendment and take away guns.”

On Thursday, Paladino said in a statement to the Associated Press that he was wrong to mention Hitler last year and that any implication that his comments meant he supported Hitler would be “a new low for the media.”

“I understand that invoking Hitler in any context is a serious mistake and rightfully upsets people,” he said. “I strongly condemn the murderous atrocities committed against the Jewish people by Hitler and the Nazis, including towards my own Italian family.”