Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey tried to do damage control Tuesday after unearthed footage showed him saying the Holocaust “doesn’t even compare” to abortion. He expressed his unimaginably awful take in a 2017 video that was shared by Jewish news website Forward on Monday. “I believe that abortion is one of the greatest atrocities of our day, and I believe it’s one of the greatest atrocities probably forever,” Bailey says in the clip. “The attempted extermination of the Jews of World War II doesn’t even compare on a shadow of the life that has been lost with abortion since its legalization.” Facing a wave of widespread condemnation from Jewish leaders and both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Bailey attempted to qualify his previous comment in a statement. “In no way was I attempting to diminish the atrocities of the Holocaust and its stain on history,” Bailey said. “I meant to emphasize the tragedy of millions of babies being lost.” He added that he’d met with “many people in the Jewish community in Illinois” and looked forward to working with them. “These types of comments have no place in public discourse,” the Anti-Defamation League said in response to Bailey’s comment. “They are deeply offensive and do an incredible disservice to the millions of Jews and other innocent victims killed by the Nazis.”
