Washington (CNN) Two powerful House Democrats have invoked Adolf Hitler's actions in Germany and the treatment of Jews during World War I and in the 1920s to warn against the direction the US is moving in, with both saying Donald Trump's presidency presents an unprecedented threat to democracy.

House Whip James Clyburn's comments came in a Tuesday interview with NBC News in which he noted that he previously cited the rise of Hitler while discussing America's political climate, according to the outlet.

"Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. And he went about the business of discrediting institutions to the point that people bought into" it," the South Carolina congressman said, according to NBC. "Nobody would have believed it now. But swastikas hung in churches throughout Germany. We had better be very careful."

Clyburn's colleague, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, made his comments at a Tuesday night town hall in New York in which he compared Trump's rhetoric toward immigrants to propaganda against Jews.

"You've heard the President and the administration say that immigrants are thieves, that they bring in drugs, that they're responsible for lots of crime, that they're -- a crisis at our border, they're bringing in drugs and crime," said Nadler, who represents New York.

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