Gaffe: Trump spokesman Spicer could use a history lesson

White House press secretary Sean Spicer created a furor Tuesday when he told reporters during a press conference that German dictator Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons against innocent civilians during World War II.

Spicer was trying to make the point that the recent gassing of civilians by Syrian President Bashar Assad was so heinous an act that President Donald Trump's order for an airstrike against Syria was warranted.

Spicer got it wrong.

Hitler infamously used poison gas to kill millions of civilians, particularly Jews, in his notorious concentration camps. Spicer tried to backtrack on the remark but only stumbled and made it worse by referring to the death camps as a "Holocaust center."

The outcry was immediate and understandable. Spicer obviously did not mean to offend, but it would seem he needs a history lesson. Anyone who is charged with speaking for the president of the United States should know better.

Published in Editorials on April 12, 2017 9:33 AM