Actress Jane Fonda compared President Trump to Adolf Hitler in a speech Thursday evening at the Women’s Media Center Awards in New York.
“If you have read anything about the rise of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler you will see the parallels,” Fonda said according to Variety. “Attacking the media is the first step and move toward fascism. The cornerstone of democracy is an independent, democratic media. And it’s under attack in a major way because bad guys are running it all. We have to make sure it doesn’t continue.”
She told those gathered that voting has “never been more important” and "everybody has to vote."
“Our democracy is fragile and it’s under attack,” she said. “Civility is under attack. We don’t have to take it any more. Voting is the way to stop it. Everybody has to vote and I think they will.”
Gloria Steinem also made some dire comments about the state of U.S. democracy at the event.
Steinem said that she’s “never felt so strongly that our democracy was at stake.”
She went on to argue in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she’s prepared to disobey laws that she considers to be unjust.
“Even if the Supreme Court were to make terribly unfair rulings, if you remember, Martin Luther King said it’s our obligation to disobey unjust laws,” she said. “We’re not going to obey them.”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) made remarks at the event while accepting a position on the Women’s Media Center’s Board of Directors.
"Sitting in this room this evening with all of this talent, with all of these women young, middle age and mature I could not help but wonder why aren’t we leading this country?” she said. “Why aren’t we holding the office of the president? It is about time."
She encouraged those gathered to "stay woke."
"I want you to know no matter what you may [have] thought or what you think about the millennials all you need to do is just stay woke," she said. "Stay woke because they are on it. And, they are going to make a significant difference in what happens not only in this midterm, but in 2020.”