Obama warns of complacency, notes rise of Hitler

Former President Obama issued a stark warning against growing nativism in the U.S. and throughout the world at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday, invoking growing complacency and the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. 

Obama told the forum’s audience during a question and answer session that the danger at hand was “grow[ing] complacent,” according to newspaper Crain’s Chicago Business.

“We have to tend to this garden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly,” Obama said.

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Despite the democracy of the Weimar Republic, Adolph Hitler rose to power, he continued. 

“Sixty million people died. … So, you’ve got to pay attention. And vote.”

While some could see the remark as a veiled jab at President Trump, Obama did not mention Trump by name during the event, according to the newspaper.

Critics of Trump say his rhetoric has fueled nationalist sentiment in the U.S. and anti-Muslim sentiment.