Ben Carson told reporters Wednesday that if “people don’t speak up for what they believe,” then America could start resembling Hitler’s Nazi Germany, CNN reports.
In a speech earlier in the day, Carson rejected the idea that a radical, totalitarian party could ever gain power in the United States.
“If you go back and look at the history of the world, tyranny and despotism and how it starts, it has a lot to do with control of thought and control of speech,” he explained.
“If people don’t speak up for what they believe, then other people will change things without them having a voice. Hitler changed things there and nobody protested. Nobody provided any opposition to him.”
Additionally, Carson shot down a question insinuating that he was comparing President Obama to Hitler.
“No. I am saying in a situation where people do not express themselves, bad things can happen.”