Newly inaugurated Illinois GOP congresswoman claims she was attacking Democrats in citing Adolf Hitler
Newly inaugurated Downstate Illinois Congesswoman Mary Miller’s office is claiming she was referring to Democratic attempts to indoctrinate youth rather than her stated push to persuade younger people to the conservative cause when she cited Adolf Hitler in a speech earlier this week.
Miller, only days into office, received condemnation from Republicans and Democrats alike as well as Jewish anti-defamation groups for referencing the Nazi master of the Holocaust in a Tuesday speech to Moms for America, a conservative group that says its mission is to “raise a new generation of patriots” through “the mothers of America.”
Miller, a Republican who was born and raised in suburban Naperville but lives in Oakland and represents deep southwestern Illinois, referred to the need for conservatives to teach their beliefs to younger voters who have trended more Democratic in recent years.
“Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation. You know, if we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing. He said, whoever has the youth has the future,” she said.
Miller has not responded to calls for her to apologize or resign her new office. But her official Twitter account claimed she was speaking about Democrats in her reference to Hitler.
“Congresswoman Miller’s statement was a denunciation of evil dictators’ efforts to re-educate young people and similar efforts by left-wing radicals in our country today,” Miller’s Twitter feed said Wednesday.
Miller replaced longtime Republican U.S. Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville, who retired. She and neighboring GOP U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro were the only two members of Illinois’ congressional delegation to vote to object to the certification of Electoral College votes that on Thursday officially designated former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden as the next president.
Miller’s husband, state Rep. Chris Miller, attended the “Save America Rally” on Wednesday where President Donald Trump spoke and instigated a deadly mob insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters that interrupted the Electoral College vote counting.
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Chris Miller is part of a group of Downstate Republicans who have pushed long-shot efforts to separate Chicago from the rest of the state, contending it has too much control dictating legislation and culture to the conservative region.
Speaking to his supporters with the Washington Monument in the background, Chris Miller said the country was engaged in a war between capitalism and socialism.
“I think it’s important to know that we’re engaged in a great cultural war to see which worldview will survive, whether we will remain a free people under free-market capitalism or whether they will put us in the tyranny of socialism, communism and the dangerous Democrat terrorists that are trying to destroy our country,” he said on social media.
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