New York GOP congressional candidate says he was wrong to invoke Hitler during 2021 interview

Carl Paladino, a Republican congressional candidate in New York, says he was wrong for having invoked Adolf Hitler in an interview last year, when he called the Nazi leader "the kind of leader we need today."

During a February 2021 interview on Buffalo radio station WBEN, Paladino invoked Hitler when asked how to "rouse the population" and get people "thinking about the possibility of change."

"I was thinking the other day about somebody had mentioned on the radio Adolf Hitler and how he aroused the crowds," Paladino said. "And he would get up there screaming these epithets and these people were just – they were hypnotized by him. That’s, I guess, I guess that’s the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it, so that it’s not a strange new world to him."

After Media Matters for America on Thursday published a recording of the conversation, Paladino said that his comments were not meant to convey any type of support for Hitler, and that any implication to the contrary would be a "new low for the media."

He also said: "I understand that invoking Hitler in any context is a serious mistake and rightfully upsets people. I strongly condemn the murderous atrocities committed against the Jewish people by Hitler and the Nazi’s, including toward my own Italian family."

Paladino was a New York Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2010, and was a co-chairman of former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign committee in New York. 

This is not the first time Paladino has faced such issues.

During his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, he was criticized for forwarding racist jokes about black people to a group of friends. He apologized and went on to win the party's nomination.

In 2016, he was kicked off the Buffalo School Board, again for making disparaging, racist comments about then-President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. The state education commissioner says Paladino was removed for disclosing confidential school board business to media outlets. 

And earlier this week, Paladino once again was asked to explain himself after sharing a conspiratorial Facebook post that suggested the recent mass shooting in his home town of Buffalo was part of a plot to take away people's guns. He says he shared the post because it was written by a friend.