Bill O’Reilly compared the Black Lives Matter movement to the gestapo Wednesday night, shortly before proclaiming he is the reporter who has done the most to “shed light” on violence against young black men.
During a segment on "The O'Reilly Factor," O’Reilly and Fox News commentator Andrea Tantaros discussed a Black Lives Matter conference in Ohio where attendees prevented a reporter from filming.
"Their message means nothing if they do these gestapo tactics," O’Reilly said. "They lose all credibility. The group is never going to be taken seriously."
It’s unclear how the gestapo -- the Nazi secret police group dedicated to oppressing and terrorizing Jews, gay people, and basically anyone the Nazis deemed undesirable -- is at all similar to a group that fights the oppression and brutalization of black people by law enforcement in the U.S.
Less than a minute later, O’Reilly asked Fox News correspondent Jehmu Greene, "The reporter in this country who has shed the most light on young black men being killed is who?" When Greene said she didn’t know, O’Reilly informed her, "That would be me."
If by "shedding light," O’Reilly means using debunked statistics to downplay police brutality, he’s right.
O'Reilly's criticisms of Black Lives Matter are notably inconsistent. His "gestapo" comment came just one day after he criticized the movement for being "anarchistic" -- a trait not exactly typically linked to Nazi-like behavior.