[WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE]

On Wednesday during an interview with The Washington Post, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) argued President Donald Trump’s “shit-eating smirk” was what gave the “green light” to the August 3 mass shooting in El Paso, TX, which killed 22 people.

O’Rourke said, “You ask yourself, when you look at the history of the Third Reich, which is the comparison I made … How did a modern country, well educated, a source of innovation and ingenuity and moral leadership in the world, descend into that level of barbarity, producing a shame that lives with every single German to this day?”

He continued, “We could go int far greater detail into what President Trump has said and has done. The ‘send her back’ chanting at that rally in North Carolina, chilling to my bone.”

Robert Costa asked, “So we had a 1930s moment?’

O’Rourke said, “In Florida, in May of this year — you know the president has warned about the infestation, the invasion, the predators, the animals, dehumanizing language to talk about humans who he has placed in cages. We have lost the lives of seven children in our custody and care. He’s telling that rally in Florida ‘what are we going to do about these people who are coming here?’ And someone yells out ‘shoot them.’ And that crowd roars in laughter and applause.”

“And the president, with that shit-eating smirk on his face, smiles and laughs in consent, giving the green light to that killer in Allen, TX, who drove 600 miles to El Paso with a AK-47, who said he was going to stop the invasion that he had been warned about by the president of the United States,” he added. “That he didn’t want to replaced as a white man in the United States of America. And when people in Charlottesville, VA, were talking about Jews, you will not replace us. President Trump said there are very fine people. If we fail to connect the dots and draw the conclusion, then we are going to die in our sleep as a country. We will lose this democracy.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN