Ex-MSNBC host ripped for comparing Trump's deportation to Holocaust (2025)

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews is under fire after drawing a controversial comparison between Donald Trump's deportation of a Salvadoran migrant and Adolf Hitler's actions during the Holocaust.

Appearing on The Jim Acosta Show on Friday, Matthews blasted the former president over the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a 29-year-old man accidentally deported from the U.S. last month.

Garcia is now being held in El Salvador's CECOT prison, a massive facility condemned by human rights groups and likened by critics to a modern-day gulag.

The case has become a flashpoint in the legal battle over Trump's immigration enforcement policies.

While several U.S. courts have ruled Garcia was deported in error and called for his return, the Trump administration has held firm, alleging he is affiliated with the violent MS-13 gang— a claim Garcia strongly denies.

This is on top of 2019deportation protection order Garcia had been placed under, after it was found he may be subject to persecution should he return to El Salvador.

During the interview, Matthews drew a direct line between Trump's actions and those of Nazi Germany.

'What did Hitler do in the Holocaust?' Matthews asked. 'He took people from Germany to other countries — where there was no German law, not even a pretense of German law. They took them to Poland or Hungary.'

Acosta followed up by referencing the CECOT facility's conditions: 'So when you see what's happening right now with this El Salvadoran gulag... he's basically taking a page out of that playbook, you think?'

'Well, it gets them out of the country,' Matthews replied, before shifting to what he believes journalists should be asking.

'If I were atCNNor MSNBC and I was in that Oval Office, I would have asked two questions,' he said.

'First question to the president of Salvador - 'If president Trump asked you to send this guy Garcia back to the United States, would you do it?''

'Then I'd go to president, then I'd go to Trump. Next question. 'Mr. President Trump, will you ask him to send them back?''

The longtime political commentator went on to accuse Trump of using cruelty as a tool of deterrence.

Matthews also took issue with Trump's often crass rhetoric, including foreign leaders and migrants. 'He wants to humiliate people,' he said. 'It's schoolyard stuff.'

Critics online were quick to condemn the comparison, accusing Matthews of trivializing the Holocaust by equating it to modern immigration enforcement.

'Please stop using the Holocaust as a comparison for anything. The Holocaust was singularly horrific,' one X user wrotein a post. 'Deporting undocumented immigrants does not compare, even to CECOT.'

'Acosta and Mathews do what Hitler did every day….eat, shower, walk, etc. You minimize the evil of Hitler with a this nonsense,' said another commenter.

'Seek help,' a third wrote.

'Hitler sent illegal alien wife beating Jewish gang members to concentration camps?' chimed another X user.

This isn't the first time Matthews has clashed with the Trump White House.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration mocked the former Hardball host after he railed against Trump's tariffs on Canadian lumber.

'What are we going to do? Have more lumber made in the United States now?!' Matthews shouted on air.

'What is our plan now? Oh we're not going to import wood so we're going to make more wood? Are we going to make more wood in this country because of our trade deal?! I don't think so!'

The White House swiftly fired back. 'Yes,' tweeted Principal Deputy Communications Director Alex Pfeiffer.

Trump's rapid response team followed up with a screenshot of the administration's plan to boost domestic timber production, writing: 'That's the idea.'