In an Oct. 4 post, the Media Research Center’s Sarah Stites complained: “More than 15 public figures have stooped to comparing Donald Trump to history’s most infamous Nazi dictator – but at what cost? Perhaps we’re seeing where that kind of hate takes the nation.” Stites went on to complain that “such illegitimate parallels cheapen the Holocaust” and cited writers who warned of “rhetorical desensitization.”
This denunciation of Trump-Hitler comparisons is interesting, because just 10 days later, an MRC post appeared with the headline “Who Said It: Margaret Sanger or Adolf Hitler?” It states: “100 years ago, as a result of the tireless efforts of Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood opened its doors for the first time. Although Sanger is memorialized by many women as a paragon of the feminist movement, she actually condoned eugenics, racism and state regimented family planning.” The following interactive slideshow does indeed mesh Sanger quotes with Hitler quotes to equate the two, though none of the quotes prove that Sanger endorsed racism, as the post suggests it does. (The MRC has a long history of spreading lies about Sanger, perhaps comfortable in the idea that the dead can’t be libeled.)
The author of this post? Sarah Stites — who was denouncing Trump-Hitler comparisons just 10 eays earlier. Nowhere in this post does she fret over cheapening the Holocaust or rhetorical desensitization.
Stites has not explained her flip-flop on Hitler comparisons.