The Republican party has been moving in strange and disturbing directions for a while now, but most of them — though not all — know to stop at Hitler. One who doesn’t is Frank S. Niceley, an obscure Tennessee politician who on Thursday made waves for saying that the downtrodden should seek inspiration from the chief architect of the Third Reich.
The Tennessee Senate spent part of the day debating a bill that would deem camping on public property, including homeless encampments, a misdemeanor. Niceley, a Republican member of the state Senate, was for it. But he didn’t stop with criminalizing those who were without homes. He offered a certain historical figure as an idol that could inspire them to not only seek shelter but make the history books.
TN Senator says Hitler made something of himself after being homeless & you can too. I’m going to have to apologize to the universe for this guy. Hey @MeidasTouch not a single day passes without TN GOP embarrassing the hell out of our state.
@meiselasb @meidasjordy @BMeiselas pic.twitter.com/SrNyGsS86B
— Rep. Gloria Johnson (@VoteGloriaJ) April 14, 2022
“I haven’t given you all a history lesson in awhile, and I wanted to give you a little history on homelessness,” Niceley told the state Senate floor. “[In] 1910, Hitler decided to live on the streets for a while. So for two years, Hitler lived on the streets and practiced his oratory, and his body language, and how to connect with citizens and then went on to lead a life that got him in the history books.”
It was a, shall we say, strange lesson to take from the life and career of the 20th century’s most infamous boogeyman. But that didn’t stop him from trying to find a silver lining in the life of the man who helped create the Holocaust.
“It’s not a dead end,” Niceley advised those without shelter. “They can come out of these homeless camps and have a productive life — or in Hitler’s case, a very unproductive life.”
Despite Niceley’s claim, Adolf Hitler did indeed lead a very productive life. If anything it was too productive, right up until his death by suicide in a bunker as the Allies closed in. Perhaps Niceley, despite professing his historian bona fides, shouldn’t quit his day job.
Did Niceley’s colleagues then realize they shouldn’t align themselves with a guy who holds up Hitler as a role model to the homeless? Of course not. The bill passed 22 to 10.
(Via The Washington Post)