Linda Ronstadt has compared Donald Trump to Hitler and has said Mexicans ‘are the new Jews’, claiming in an interview that there are ‘great parallels’ between the current administration and Nazi Germany.
‘It’s exactly the same,’ Ronstadt said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. ‘You find a common enemy for everybody to hate. I was sure that Trump was going to get elected the day he announced. And I said, “It’s going to be like Hitler, and the Mexicans are the new Jews”.’
‘And sure enough, that’s what he delivered, you know?’
Ronstadt spoke as she promoted Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, a CNN documentary about her life debuting on television New Year’s Day.
Linda Ronstadt compared the Trump admin to Nazi Germany on CNN: ‘It’s exactly the same. You find a common enemy for everybody to hate’
Ronstadt said she was sure ‘Trump was going to get elected the day he announced. And I said, “It’s going to be like Hitler, and the Mexicans are the new Jews”‘
In the teaser clip aired Monday, she responded to Cooper mentioning how she had read a lot about the Weimar Republic in Germany.
The music legend explained: ‘Hitler rose to power; there were a lot of chances to stop him, and they didn’t speak out. And the industrial complex thought they could control him once they got him in office. And of course, he was not controllable.
‘By the time he got established, he put his own people in place and stacked the courts and did what he had to do to consolidate his power. And, we got Hitler and he destroyed Germany, he destroyed centuries of intellectual history forward and backward.’
When Cooper said he thinks ‘a lot of people … would be surprised to hear comparisons between what happened then and now,’ Ronstadt replied: ‘If you read the history, you won’t be surprised.’
Parkinson’s stopped Ronstadt’s singing career. She used to bond with her Republican family members by singing but now she has to ‘be careful’ what they speak about in what she thinks is an irrational Trump admin
Ronstadt also hinted the administration was putting a strain on her relationship with her family.
She mentioned the political climate as she opened up about losing the ability to sing due to Parkinson’s Disease, explain repetitive motion is ‘just impossible’.
‘Some of my family in Tucson are Republicans,’ Ronstadt revealed. ‘And instead of talking about that, we would sing together, and we’d have a great time.
‘Now, I have to be careful because we’ve had so much taken away from us by this administration that I’m not willing to let them take my family relationships away.
‘My family — the parts that are Republican were fairly rational Republicans. We don’t have that in our current White House.’
It’s unclear when the segment was filmed but this month Ronstadt drew attention for a comment at a dinner for Kennedy honorees hosted by the State Department and Secretary Mike Pompeo.
Ronstadt said she hadn’t planned to mention the Trump administration but did so to show support for fellow honoree Sally Field. The actress had remarked about living in an era where the idea of truth was being challenged, Ronstadt said.
‘Half the room applauded and the other half sat in silence,’ Ronstadt recalled. ‘I just wanted to say that I was in solidarity with her. I didn’t want her to stand up there by herself.’
During his remarks, Pompeo referenced a Ronstadt hit, When Will I Be Loved, saying he wondered when he’d be loved. When it was Ronstadt’s turn to speak, the 73-year-old retired singer tartly answered the question and said it would be ‘when he stops enabling Donald Trump.’
CNN’s Anderson Cooper said people would be surprised to hear comparisons between then and now, she replied: ‘If you read the history, you won’t be surprised’
Mike Pompeo (back left) referenced a Ronstadt (front, third from left) hit, When Will I Be Loved, saying he wondered when he’d be loved. When it was Ronstadt’s turn to speak, the 73-year-old answered the question and said it would be ‘when he stops enabling Donald Trump’
Ronstadt said she hadn’t planned to mention the Trump administration but did so to show support for fellow honoree Sally Field. The actress had remarked about living in an era where the idea of truth was being challenged
She now lives a quiet life in the San Francisco area.
Her last album, a collaboration with Cajun singer Ann Savoy that Ronstadt considers one of her best, was released in 2006. She performed her last concert in 2009.
CNN released the film in theaters earlier this year, and it earned some $4.2 million, a strong showing for a documentary.
It surprised Ronstadt.
‘When they approached me, I thought it would be a documentary film that would have one night on PBS and that would be it,’ she said in an interview.
‘I’m glad people like it.
‘Sometimes they like things that aren’t very good and I think they only like it because they don’t have good taste. I think I know what I did. I’m happy with the good things I did and I wish the other parts were better, but I did my best.’
This Feb. 20, 1977 file photo shows singer Linda Ronstadt is flanked by Ringo Starr, left, and Paul Williams after she was named best pop singer for her Hasten Down the Wind at The 19th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles