In a new interview, Grammy Award winner Linda Ronstadt compared President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump says he doesn't think he could've done more to stop virus spread Conservative activist Lauren Witzke wins GOP Senate primary in Delaware Trump defends claim coronavirus will disappear, citing 'herd mentality' MORE to Adolf Hitler, saying that "if you read the history" it's "exactly the same."

While speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Ronstadt said there are "great parallels" between Trump and Hitler.

"The intelligentsia of Berlin and the literati and all the artists were just busy doing their thing. Hitler rose to power. There were a lot of chances to stop him, and they didn't speak out," she said. "The industrial complex thought they could control him once they got him in office, and of course he was not controllable."

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"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," Ronstadt said, referring to the Nazi leader. "And we got Hitler, and he destroyed Germany. He destroyed centuries of intellectual history forward and backward."

Cooper challenged Ronstadt's comparison, saying, "I think a lot of people, though, would be surprised to hear comparisons between what happened then and now."