Local GOP chapter draws bipartisan criticism for comparing Biden to dictators following Trump indictment

(FOX 9) - A social media post from a local GOP chapter comparing President Joe Biden to the most notorious dictators of the 20th century in response to the indictment of former President Donald Trump has caused a stir, drawing criticism from both parties and a prominent professor at the University of Minnesota.

The post from the Scott County GOP shows the phrase "Leaders who have their political opponents arrested" above images of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao, with a photo of Biden added to the lower right of the grid.

A image posted to Facebook by The Scott County GOP.

It came in response to the indictment last Thursday of Trump, who pleaded not guilty on Monday to federal charges that he kept classified documents containing crucial military secrets and plotted to obstruct government efforts to recover them.

The DFL was the first to denounce the post. "The fact that a unit of David Hann's Republican Party thinks the rule of law in America is similar to the genocidal dictatorships of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin is proof of just how radicalized the Republican base has become. Hann should step up and condemn this rhetoric if he cares about restoring sanity and civility to politics, but I'm not holding my breath," DFL Minnesota Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.

Martin would not have needed to hold his breath for long. The state GOP condemned the post soon afterward. "There's no question the post was uncalled for - such rhetoric has no place in our political discourse. We have asked the Scott County party unit to remove the post in question," Republican Party of Minnesota Executive Director Mike Lonergan said in a statement.

As of 5 p.m., the post had been removed from the Facebook page — but it was back again by 8:30 p.m.

Democrats have also recently had internal debate on what constitutes acceptable political discourse, with a post by a local chapter head mocking former President Ronald Regan's death also drawing bipartisan criticism.

Professor Larry Jacobs of the Hubert H. Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota said he found the post by the Scott County GOP to be "inappropriate, outrageous, and entirely wrong."

"This is a post by someone who's clearly very angry and looking to mislead people and to provoke responses. And that concerns me. I think we're in a period where the divisions between the parties are so sharp, that folks are vulnerable to people who exploit anger and misinformation," he said.

Jacobs cautioned that, nationally, the reaction to Trump's indictment by some of his supporters has been inflammatory. "It's given rise to really violence-laden rhetoric about fighting back and stopping the so-called witch hunts against Donald Trump. The reality is there's a well-established judicial process where lawyers and prosecutors are independent of the politicians. And that's what's going on here," he said.

Like many observers, he fears the discourse could grow more heated as the presidential election draws closer.

"I think we are at the cusp of a potentially quite disruptive, maybe even violent phase in our politics because the distrust is so high. The rhetoric is so overheated, the level of misinformation is so pervasive," he said. "I find that a lot of people on the left but also on the right, frankly, are misinformed and seem vulnerable to being led to the most extreme, in some cases, inaccurate conclusions."